Historical Stratification, Language Contact & Social Networks

Introduction

The two language communities forming the core of our investigation, Pana (Gur family) and Samo (East Mande family), share a long-lasting history of cultural and economic exchange that has left behind traces on the language level. The apprehension of the processes involved in this contact situation is twofold:

- On the historical linguistic level, we will look for salient areal features of each language variety.

- On the anthropological linguistic level, we shall investigate how linguistic innovations spreads in the respective social networks.

Stratification/Stratigraphy

The purpose of linguistic stratigraphy is to establish a relative chronology and profile of intensity, duration and kind of language contact. This is done by a comparison of reconstructed proto forms, an analysis of areal distribution of specific lexemes and grammatical traits.

Social Networks and Diffusion

Since the studies of Milroy & Milroy and others the the importance of social networks as a mean of explanation for language change is evident. By following the quantitative and qualitative approach, linguistic innovation is identified and correlated to patterns within the social networks. In this study, we focus on language contact induced innovation and investigate the parameters of discussion within the respective speech group.