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date: 14 November 2024

Mixed Languageslocked

Mixed Languageslocked

  • Felicity MeakinsFelicity MeakinsSchool of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland

Summary

Mixed languages are a rare category of contact language which has gone from being an oddity of contact linguistics to the subject of media excitement, at least for one mixed language—Light Warlpiri. They show considerable diversity in structure, social function, and historical origins; nonetheless, they all emerged in situations of bilingualism where a common language is already present. In this respect, they do not serve a communicative function, but rather are markers of an in-group identity. Mixed languages provide a unique opportunity to study the often observable birth, life, and death of languages both in terms of the sociohistorical context of language genesis and the structural evolution of language.

Subjects

  • Language Families/Areas/Contact
  • Sociolinguistics

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