language shift

[Tasaku Tsunoda]

21 March 2003

Dear Colleagues,
    Re: Language shift and morphological complexity

   I am writing to seek your advice.

   In general, the causes for language shift are extra-linguistic, such as
economic and political factors. But I am interested to know if there is any
correlation between language shift and morphological complexity.
   There are at least two directions of language shift:
   (1) from a more complex language to a simpler one
   (2) from a simpler one to a more complex one
Most instances of language shift appear to be of Type (1), e.g. a shift from
Scottish Gaelic to English, and from an Australian Aboriginal language to
English. It seems that, in language shift situations throughout the word,
the target language is (almost always ?) morphologically the simpler, e.g.
English in Scotland and Australia, and Spanish in South America.

   Now, my questions are the following.

Question 1
   Are there any attested instances of Type (2) ? Are there any references ?

Question 2
   If (2) is attested, then are attested instances of Type (1) more numerous
than those of Type (2) ? That is, is there any correlation between (i) the
frequency of language shift and (ii) morphological complexity ? (I would
imagine that (1) would be more common than (2).) Are there any references ?

Question 3
   If (2) is attested, then does Type (1) progress faster than Type (2) ?
That is, is there any correlation between (i) the speed of language shift
and (ii) morphological complexity ? (I would imagine that (1) progresses
faster than (2).) Are there any references ?

   I look forward to receiving your advice.

Best wishes,

Tasaku Tsunoda

--
Tasaku Tsunoda
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology
University of Tokyo
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

Phone: +81-3-5841-3790
Fax:   +81-3-5803-2784