Language contact is, in its simplest definition, the use of more than one language in the same place at the same time. In this talk dr. E.I. Crevels, from Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, will showcase different scenarios of language contact, including pidgins, creoles, bilingual mixed languages and indigenized varieties of the major European languages. The best known indigenized varieties of the major European languages. The best known indigenized varieties are the so-called “New Englishes” of e.g. Nigeria, India or Singapore, where English has been restructured under the influence of pronunciation patterns and grammar of the local languages. She will try to show that there is in principal no limit to what speakers of different languages will borrow or transfer from each other, given the right opportunity.
