Language Contact and Linguistic Change in the Chaco

Abstract

The goals of this paper are to examine several aspects oflanguage contact involving languages of the Chaco region. More specifically,I discuss changes that are unexpected in situations of intensive contact; Iconsider possible explanations for resistance to lexical borrowing; I addressthe implications of language contact in these Chaco languages for claims aboutchange in language contact situations in general; I evaluate claims regardingmixed languages in the region; and I investigate diffused linguistic traits in theChaco and determine whether the Chaco is a linguistic area.