Language shift

Abstract

Language shift has always existed. Conquests were the first historically attested cause of language shifts, then migrations prompted these types of changes, and today it is mainly language diffusion that triggers this language contact phenomenon. There are some promoting and/or impeding factors for shift, but not a single condition evokes the same patterns of language use in all language contact situations. For this reason, and because each language community should thus be considered and analyzed in its own terms, this chapter discusses the most significant approaches, models, methods and examples of possible language choice patterns and trends, and finally, also addresses possible factors that may or may not boost language shift within a particular linguistic community.