Contact-induced linguistic change: An Introduction

Contact-induced linguistics change (or CILC) has been a feature of all known languages, ancient and modern, and has manifested itself in a great number of ways, which have on occasion interacted; the matter involves a great deal more than the mere transfer of cultural lexicon from one linguistic system to another, although this is probably the most widespread form of CILC and the easiest for linguists to exemplify. Drawing examples from a wide range of languages, but especially those in which CILC has been important, this chapter discuses themes, techniques, tendencies, and a selection of the major works in contact-induced linguistic change in its many forms.