Sound structure and the psycholinguistics of language contact

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter we propose a conceptualization of the literatures on language contact and mutual influence of sound categories in terms of three interrelated areas of inquiry: Static Knowledge of Phonetic Categories, Dynamic Processes of Cross-Linguistic Influence, and Relating Individuals to Communities. The overarching question to be answered is, how do processes of cross-language interaction within an individual speaker shape sound patterns in the context of languages in contact, such that the community norms are shifted? To this end, we highlight and attempt to synthesize partially overlapping areas of these literatures with the express purpose of building towards a framework for understanding sound patterns in language contact. The ultimate goal is to develop a mechanistic, psycholinguistically-informed model of sound-related language contact phenomena, and to sketch a research agenda in pursuit of such a model.