Reconstructing Non-Standard Languages
A socially-anchored approach
Focusing on language contact involving Russian, and the linguistic varieties that emerged from that contact in different social settings, this book analyzes issues and methodologies in reconstructing both the linguistic effects of language contact and the social contexts of usage. In-depth analyses of Odessan Russian, a southern Russian contact variety with Yiddish and Ukrainian elements, and Russian lexifier pidgins illustrate the reconstruction process, which involves making the most of all available documentation, particularly literature and stereotypical descriptions. Historical sociolinguistics of this kind straddles the fields of historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and contact; this book brings together the methods and theories of these areas to show how they can result in a rich reconstruction of linguistic and socially-conditioned variation. We reconstruct the circumstances and social settings that produced this variation, and demonstrate how to reconstruct which variants were used by different types of speakers under different circumstances, and what kinds of social identities they indexed.
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society, 52] 2022. xv, 354 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Preface | pp. xi–xiv
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Acknowledgements | pp. xv–xvi
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Part I. Theory and methodology
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Chapter 1. Socio-historical linguistics and language contact | pp. 3–26
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Chapter 2. The Russian Language Empire | pp. 27–68
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Chapter 3. Sociolinguistics and the reconstruction of contact effects | pp. 69–102
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Part II. Linguistic reconstruction
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Chapter 4. Language contact and Odessan Russian | pp. 105–178
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Chapter 5. Russian pidgins | pp. 179–230
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Part III. Issues of representation in documentation and reconstruction
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Chapter 6. Types of representation in written documentation | pp. 233–274
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Chapter 7. Indexicality and authenticity | pp. 275–316
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Appendixes
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Appendix A. Sources | pp. 317–321
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Appendix B. Transcription | p. 322
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Bibliography | pp. 323–340
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Name index | pp. 341–344
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Subject index | pp. 345–354
“
Reconstructing Non-Standard Languages provides a unique approach on the role of Russian language contact in the emergence of sociolectal varieties.”
Marc Gandarillas, University of North Dakota, in Language in Society 53 (2024)..
“This book is a well-informed study that provokes discussion well beyond OdR and RLPs. [...] Theoretical issues involving validity, authenticity and the use of literary sources are of concern to scholars in historical sociolinguistics, literary multilingualism, creolistics and contact linguistics in general.”
Anna Verschik, Tallinn University, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (2024).
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Giles, Howie
Grenoble, Lenore A & Boris Osipov
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFB: Sociolinguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009050: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics