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Article published In:
Diachronica
Vol. 39:4 (2022) ► pp.525–564

Copying form without content

Relexification in ordinary contact-induced change

ORCID logo | Dynamique Du Langage, CNRS | Université de Lyon

Two major types of change are generally distinguished in language contact studies: the transfer of linguistic form (frequently taken to include transfer of concomitant meaning or function) and the transfer of structural and semantic patterns by themselves, without attendant form. A type of change that is less frequently discussed is so-called relexification. This involves the transfer of form without model-language semantic or syntactic specifications that is grafted onto an equivalent recipient-language lemma. Relexification has been suggested to play a role in the development of mixed languages or creoles, but as is shown here, it can also be identified in several ordinary situations of language contact from around the world. This type of change represents a mirror image of the transfer of patterns without lexical material and supports recent models of language selection in bilinguals.

Keywords: borrowing, loanwords, adpositions, conjunctions, derivational suffixes, extension by analogy, MAT, PAT
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Lamunkhin Even, its contact situation, and the data used in this study
  • 3.Sakha postpositions in Lamunkhin Even
    • 3.1The primary postposition dïlï ‘until’
    • 3.2The relational nouns bïːs- ‘between’ and tus- ‘about’
    • 3.3Different types of Sakha-derived postpositions in Lamunkhin Even
  • 4.Relexification in ordinary language contact
    • 4.1Quechua in contact with Spanish: The agent nominalizer -dor
    • 4.2Zoque in contact with Spanish: The concessive construction
    • 4.3Mosetén in contact with Spanish: The conjunction pero ‘but’
    • 4.4Totonac in contact with Spanish: The preposition hasta ‘until’
    • 4.5Domari in contact with Arabic: The preposition žamb ‘next to’
  • 5.Relexification – or simply extension by analogy?
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Relexification and other types of contact-induced change
    • 6.2The role of pivot-matching in relexification
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations used in glosses
  • References
Published online: 26 April 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.20022.pak
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