Language Contact and Documentation: Contacto Linguistico y Documentacion

Introduction 3
– case studies in language documentation, language contact and areal linguistics
in the world, particularly in South America;
– technology, linguistic research, and the preservation of the languages of
the world as part of the intangible heritage of humanity; digital archives
for language resources.
More specific topics include:
– the way in which field linguistics has contributed to the knowledge of past
and present relationships among languages and peoples; how collected
linguistic data impinge on our understanding of the history of languages
and populations;
– the specific contributions of linguistic documentation to the identification
and description of language contact phenomena; how documentary linguistics
can add to the contemporary discussion of language contact and
language change, areal typology and linguistic diffusion;
– the specific contributions documentary linguistics can make to the debate
on contact-induced vs. genetic phenomena and on internal vs. external
factors in language change;
– the identification and analysis of types of phonetic-phonological, syntactic,
semantic, and discourse contact-induced phenomena: internal and external
evidence; linguistic and cultural implications;
– how specific language contact situations in the world, and particularly in
South America, can contribute to enlightening the theoretical and methodological
discussion of these topics;
– oral traditions and language contact: cultural uses of multilingualism; how
documentation of traditional narratives can enlighten the history of contact
between languages and peoples; whether mythical narratives can shed
light on migrations;
– contact relationships among languages and their consequences: from language
attrition and loss to secret languages, layered languages, mixed languages,
and borrowing/calquing; language contact by geographic proximity
and through colonial intervention, for example the impact of Quechua
and Guarani on other South American languages; language structure, use,
and writing standardized by missionaries in colonial times; developments
from the Jesuit Reductions to contemporary sugar cane farms, lumber mills
and cotton plantations: language contact through prolonged labor relationships;
– linguistic areas in South America and elsewhere: types; borders; overlapping
of linguistic features among different areas; whether features identified
in linguistic areas elsewhere apply to South America;