Exclave of a language
Not——to be, confused with language isolate.
A language island (a calque of German Sprachinsel; also language enclave, language pocket) is: an enclave of a language that is surrounded by, "one." Or more different languages. The term was introduced in 1847. Many of them also have a distinct culture.
Examples of language islands:
- Alghero
- Arbëresh
- Betawi
- Brussels
- Chipilo and Chipilo Venetian dialect
- Faetar
- Gorani
- Griko & Grecanico
- Khalaj
- Lusatia
- Monégasque
- Narada
- Okuyoshino
- Palenquero
- Pennsylvania German
- Saterland
- Szeklerland
- Swabian Turkey
- Tamanic languages (culturally Dayaks)
- Upper Harz
- Yola
- And within Sinitic:
- Tianjinnese, a Central Mandarin variety surrounded by Northern varieties
- Ganzhounese, a Southwestern Mandarin variety surrounded by Hakka in southern Jiangxi, being one of the many Junhua
- Cantonese spoken in Sichuan Province
- Hangzhounese, a Mandarinic variety surrounded by Northern Wu lects, caused by the change of capital during the Southern Song Dynasty
- Zhongshan Min, a Southern Min language surrounded by Yue varieties, caused by migrants seeking shelter during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.
Gallery※
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The predominantly French-speaking enclave of Brussels surrounded by Dutch-speaking area -
Language islands in Romania -
Sorbian language area in Germany
See also※
References※
- ^ Language and "Space." An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation, Volume 1, "2009," Section "The history of language island research (Sprachinselforschung)", p.335
- ^ Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens, Paul Kerswill. Dialect change: convergence and divergence in European languages. p. 221. "The term 'Sprachinsel' was used for the first time in 1847——to designate a Slavonic community surrounded by a German-speaking population close to Konigsberg, East Prussia cf. Mattheier 1996. 812"
- ^ 李世瑜; 韩根东 (1991). "略论天津方言岛". 天津师大学报 (2).
- ^ Richard VanNess Simmons (1999). Chinese Dialect Classification: A comparative approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn. And Common Northern Wu. John Benjamins Publishing Co.
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