Mixed language

A mixed language, also referred to as a hybrid language, contact language, or fusion language, is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language.[1] It differs from a creole or pidgin language in that, whereas creoles/pidgins arise where speakers of many languages acquire a common language, a mixed language typically arises in a population that is fluent in both of the source languages.

Because all languages show some degree of mixing[2] by virtue of containing loanwords, it is a matter of controversy whether the concept of a mixed language can meaningfully be distinguished from the type of contact and borrowing seen in all languages.[3][4] Scholars debate to what extent language mixture can be distinguished from other mechanisms such as code-switching, substrata, or lexical borrowing.[5]

  1. ^ Matras, Yaron; Bakker, Peter, eds. (2008). The Mixed Language Debate: Theoretical and Empirical Advances. Walter de Gruyter. p. 191. ISBN 9783110197242.
  2. ^ Zuckermann (2009) p. 48, citing Hjelmslev (1938) and Schuchardt (1884).
  3. ^ Arends et al. 1994
  4. ^ Yaron Matras (2000). "Mixed languages: a functional–communicative approach" (PDF). Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 3 (2): 79–99. doi:10.1017/S1366728900000213.
  5. ^ According to Google n-gram, the German term Mischsprache is first attested in 1832, and attested in English since 1909.

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