[Lingtyp] The purpose of convergence and divergence?

[Daniel Ross]

Hi Ian,

One interesting perspective on this would have to do with the distinction
between "language" and "dialect". While there are many ways of (trying to)
define that difference, one relevant to usage is the perspective of the
speaker, i.e. whether they treat languages as intelligible or not. Is
language switching necessary for communication? Is translation necessary?
Or is it functional to just talk to someone who speaks a different variety?
This blurs the lines of what it means to be multilingual, also.

What I'm thinking of relates to what Romaine in her *Language in Society:
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics* (chapter 1) refers to as
"dual-lingualism", where speakers of different languages may understand
each other and behave as if they are speaking the same language (each
speaking their own, without any need for switching or translation), even
though linguistically the languages may be quite different. I think that
chapter is worth the read, but the specific example is based on this 1987
book by William Thurston about neighboring languages in Papua New Guinea (
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/145417/1/PL-B99.pdf).
We can see parallels for other cases of similar languages, such as Swedish,
Norwegian and Danish used together by speakers of each. But it also reminds
me of for example an anecdote I recently heard from a speaker of an
Indigenous Californian language, whose grandparents spoke different but
related languages and would generally speak to each other in their own
languages and could understand each other. I think that is probably a
common situation. There are also, I believe, cases where speakers of two
languages considered mutually intelligible from a linguistic perspective
may deny that they can understand someone speaking the other language, for
example I think sometimes this is the case for Hindi and Urdu.

More generally, we would also need to consider other contexts of contact
and sprachbunds generally, but I imagine it works somewhat similarly. Once
bilingualism is widespread, bilingual communication becomes mixed in
various ways, and the usage tends to assimilate in general. A relevant case
to consider would be what we must assume happened historically with Korean
and Japanese, where similar contexts of usage, and bilingualism, resulted
in convergent grammars. There are other relevant considerations also,
including some already mentioned, like code-switching, priming,
assimilation in a more general sociolinguistic sense, etc.

In short, maybe we could say that convergence is the result of breaking
down a language (communication) barrier. The degree of convergence probably
correlates with the degree to which the barrier is reduced: limited lexical
borrowing in more limited contact scenarios, all the way to mixed languages
in cases of widespread, consistent bilingualism where the languages cease
to function as separate entities (at least for some purposes). An
interesting case of this is Scots, historically a sister language to Old
English, but then today it has to a great extent blurred into Scottish
English to the point where for most purposes there is no consistently
identifiable boundary between the two in typical usage (for example, the
designers of the SCOTS corpus here https://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/ did
not find it practical to make a consistent distinction in the materials
between "Scots" and "Scottish English", although of course a distinction
can be made intentionally by speakers, for example those authors who choose
to write, for example poetry, exclusively in Scots for cultural reasons).

Daniel

On Thu, Jun 29, 2023 at 12:01 PM Juergen Bohnemeyer <jb77 at buffalo.edu>
wrote:

> Dear Ian – There are apparently two separate forces at work here:
>
>
>
>    - Priming and statistical learning (which might be the same thing):
>    any behavior, regardless of whether we produce it ourselves or observe it
>    in others, increases the probability of us repeating the behavior in the
>    near future (decaying over time) all else being equal. Social factors
>    determine who we are more likely to talk to and priming/statistical
>    learning ensures that our and their linguistic patterns propagate in the
>    process including innovations. Cf. Pickering & Garrod (2004);
>    Rosenbach & Jäger (2008); Kleinschmidt et al. (2018); inter alia.
>    - Social meaning and linguistic ideologies: Linguistic variables
>    become indexically associated with particular social groups, speakers
>    capitalize on these associations to express their allegiance/distance to
>    those groups. E.g., Eckert (1988); Irvine & Gal (2000); Milroy (1980);
>    Trudgill (1972).
>
>
>
> Best – Juergen
>
>
>
> Eckert, P. (1988). Adolescent social structure and the spread of
> linguistic change. *Language in society* 17: 183-207.
>
>
>
> Irvine, J. & S. Gal. (2000). Language ideology and linguistic
> differentiation. In P. Kroskrity, ed., *Regimes of Language: Ideologies,
> Polities, and Identities*. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.
> 35-84.
>
>
>
> Jäger, G. & A. Rosenbach. (2008). Priming and unidirectional language
> change. *Theoretical Linguistics* 34: 85–113.
>
>
>
> Kleinschmidt, D. F., K. Weatherholtz, & T. F. Jaeger. (2018).
> Sociolinguistic Perception as Inference Under Uncertainty. *TopiCS*
> 10(4): 818-834.
>
>
>
> Milroy, L. (1980). *Language and social networks*. Oxford: Blackwell.
>
>
>
> Pickering, M. J., & Garrod, S. (2004). Toward a mechanistic psychology of
> dialogue. *Behavioral and Brain Sciences*, *27*(2), 169–190.
> https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X04000056
>
>
>
> Trudgill, P. (1972). Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the
> urban British English or Norwich. *Language in Society *1(2): 179-195.
>
>
>
>
>
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> University at Buffalo
>
> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
> Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
> Phone: (716) 645 0127
> Fax: (716) 645 3825
> Email: jb77 at buffalo.edu
> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/
>
> Office hours Tu/Th 3:30-4:30pm in 642 Baldy or via Zoom (Meeting ID 585
> 520 2411; Passcode Hoorheh)
>
> There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In
> (Leonard Cohen)
>
> --
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of
> Ian Joo <ian_joo at nucba.ac.jp>
> *Date: *Thursday, June 29, 2023 at 2:33 PM
> *To: *<lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> *Subject: *[Lingtyp] The purpose of convergence and divergence?
>
> Dear Typologists,
>
> I would appreciate it if you could point to me the literature discussing
> the purpose of linguistic convergence and divergence.
> Do they happen simply because they happen - or do they serve any purpose?
> Do they bring any benefit?
> For example if my lect changes based on to what my neighbors are speaking,
> it's an interesting phenomenon, but what good does it do? Does it make me
> more suitable as a neighbor? Does it make it more easier for me to learn
> their (dominant) lect? Does it facilitate code-switching?
> Same about divergence - if a group that split away from a bigger group
> changes their lect in a divergent manner, then what benefit does it bring?
> Does it solidate their group identity? Does it help to identify an in-group
> member?
> These questions have been stuck in my head for quite a long time now and I
> would be grateful if you could provide me previous insights on such
> questions.
>
> From the Netherlands,
> Ian
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