The present conference volume is an attempt to extend the scope of Eastern European linguistics by bringing together contributions from the fields of sociolinguistics and social anthropology hitherto neglected in the study of Eastern European languages. The collection of papers focusses primarily on cultural and linguistic hybridity in contexts of marginalization. Special attention is given to the language-identity nexus. All analyses are based on field research covering the spectrum from largescale questionnaire elicitation to participant observation. This reflects the editors' concern and hope for a renewed appreciation of field work by Slavic scholars. The volume is structured thematically, dealing withas diverse topics as cultural hybridity, linguistic identity in borderland communities, language death and genesis, code-mixing, as well as dialect shift under conditions of sociopolitical upheaval. Among the languages treated are Kashubian, Banat Bul-garian, Aegean Macedonian, Slovene, non-standard and contact varieties of Russian (Karelian-Russian, Old settlers' Russian, Russian lexifier pidgins and Russian foreigner talk), mixed lects (Surzhyk and Trasianka), and standard-dialect-continua in Ex-Yugoslavia.

Provides a systematic approach to lexical indicators of cultural identity using the material of Slavic languages.

This volume presents 16 original studies of variation in languages representing the three main European language families, as well as in varieties of Greek and Hungarian. The studies concern variation in or across dialects or dialect groups, in standard varieties or in emerging regional varieties of the standard. Several studies investigate a specific linguistic element or structure, while others focus on areas of tension between variation and prescriptive standard norms, on regional standard varieties and regiolects, on problems of linguistic classification (from folk linguistic or dialect geographical perspectives) and the classification of speakers. Language acquisition plays a main role in three studies. The studies in this volume represent a range of methods, including ethnographic and 'interpretative' approaches, conversation analysis, analyses of the internal and geographical distribution of dialect features, the classification and quantitative analyses of socio-demographic speaker background data, quantitative analyses of both diachronic and synchronic language data, phonetic measurements, as well as (quasi-)experimental perception studies. The volume thus offers a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmos of world-wide research on variability in (originally) European languages at the beginning of the 21th century and the linguistic expression of cultural diversity.

This collection of thirteen essays examines sociolinguistic phenomena in a wide variety of marginal environments, providing both an overview of globalizaiton on the margins and a foundation for an expanded understanding of the processes of linguistic and cultural changes at work in these settings. Taking an expansive conceptual view of margins, the volume is organized in three parts, looking at examples of marginal spaces in the nation-state, in online environments, and in the peripheries of urban locations, globally to call attention to new and changing discursive genres, patterns, practices, and identities emerging in these spaces as a result of contemporary mobilities, the evolving global economy, and socio-political changes. With previous research previously confined to the study of globalization in urban areas, this volume opens the door for further research on the complex sociolinguistic processes resulting from globalization on the margins, making this an ideal resource for students and scholars in sociolinguistics, globalization and heritage studies, new media, anthropology, and cultural studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http: //www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY)

This volume is at the cross-roads between two research traditions dealing with language change: contact linguistics and language variation and change. It starts out from the notion that linguistic variation is still a little researched area in most contact-induced language change studies. Intending to fill this gap, it offers a rich panorama of case studies and approaches dealing with linguistic variation in contact settings. It concentrates both on monolingual data, tracing variation and contact beneath surface homogeneity, and on bilingual data such as code-switching and other forms of variation, to trace their underlying regularities. It investigates the relationship between variation and change in language contact settings. The book will be relevant for students and researchers in contact linguistics, sociolinguistics, language variation and change, sociology of language, descriptive linguistics and linguistic typology.

This handbook offers an extensive crosslinguistic and cross-theoretical survey of polysynthetic languages, in which single multi-morpheme verb forms can express what would be whole sentences in English. These languages and the problems they raise for linguistic analyses have long featured prominently in language descriptions, and yet the essence of polysynthesis remains under discussion, right down to whether it delineates a distinct, coherent type, rather than an assortment of frequently co-occurring traits. Chapters in the first part of the handbook relate polysynthesis to other issues central to linguistics, such as complexity, the definition of the word, the nature of the lexicon, idiomaticity, and to typological features such as argument structure and head marking. Part two contains areal studies of those geographical regions of the world where polysynthesis is particularly common, such as the Arctic and Sub-Arctic and northern Australia. The third part examines diachronic topics such as language contact and language obsolence, while part four looks at acquisition issues in different polysynthetic languages. Finally, part five contains detailed grammatical descriptions of over twenty languages which have been characterized as polysynthetic, with special attention given to the presence or absence of potentially criterial features.

The articles collected in this volume address linguistic diversity in Russia and Finland from different perspectives and aim to provide both theoretical and empirical knowledge concerning recently emerged multilingual and multicultural developments. The topics include representations and conceptualisations of multilingualism, the language education of immigrants, the linguistic rights of ethnic minorities, language policy, and ideologies underlying multilingual activities. Linguistic and cultural diversity is approached from different theoretical and methodological perspectives (e.g. discourse analysis, ethnography). The focus is on both micro and macro level phenomena. The articles show how the ideologies that underlie language policies and also various grass-root multilingual practices are conditioned by broader political, historical and socio-cultural contexts.