Language Contact and Change

Languages in contact are characterized by constant and rapid change; thus they provide a testing ground for hypotheses about processes of linguistic change. In this study Silva-Corvalán looks at an inter-generational sample of Spanish-English bilinguals in Los Angeles County. Bringing together analytical techniques employed in sociolinguistics functional syntax and discourse analysis she uncovers the linguistic cognitive and social processes underlying language maintenance as well as changes characteristic of language shift and loss.