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Part of
Constructions in Contact 2: Language change, multilingual practices, and additional language acquisition
Edited by Hans C. Boas and Steffen Höder
[Constructional Approaches to Language 30] 2021
► pp. 191–232

Non-Dravidian elements and (non)diasystematic change in Malayalam

| University of Michigan

This chapter applies a Diasystematic Construction Grammar (DCxG) approach to account for non-Dravidian vocabulary and phonology in Malayalam, a high-contact Dravidian language. The distinction made in DCxG between diaconstructions, which are language non-specific, and idioconstructions, which are language-specific, proves useful in accounting for semantic specialization and phonological heterogeneity due to language contact. Notably, increased contact with English has led in some cases to decreased phonological adaptation, as some constructions change from diaconstructions to idioconstructions: Non-diasystematic change. Taken together, this chapter argues that any analysis of Malayalam must account for non-Dravidian subpatterns, and including language labels as part of speakers’ linguistic knowledge enhances our understanding of the dynamics of language contact.

Keywords: Malayalam, English, language contact, language change, semantic specialization, loanword adaptation, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics
Article outline
  • 1.High-contact languages are not categorically different
    • 1.1“Stratified lexicon” without a lexicon
    • 1.2Note on the data
  • 2.Language contact in Malayalam
    • 2.1Sanskrit
    • 2.2Arabic
    • 2.3Portuguese and Dutch
    • 2.4English
      • 2.4.1English pre-1950s
      • 2.4.2English post-1950s and today
    • 2.5Interim summary: History and hybrid Malayalam
  • 3.The role of non-Dravidian words across social and semantic domains
    • 3.1Sanskrit
    • 3.2Arabic
    • 3.3Portuguese and Dutch
    • 3.4English
      • 3.4.1Semantic specialization
      • 3.4.2Semantic specialization with Western connotation
      • 3.4.3Motivations for using English-origin words
      • 3.4.4English-origin words requiring further explanation
    • 3.5Interim summary: Word origins and meaning
  • 4.Heterogeneity in Malayalam phonology
    • 4.1Heterogeneity in sounds
    • 4.2Heterogeneity in syllable structure
  • 5.Socio-cognitively motivated non-diasystematic change
  • 6.Word-final schwa as a Phonological Language Marker of Malayalam
  • 7.Malayalam as a hybrid language
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 June 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.30.07nam
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