Calendrier

• Olesya Khanina (University of Helsinki)

dans le cadre DILIS

I will present a recent direction of research in linguistics, typology of language spreads. With roots in typology, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics, it aims to capture patterns of cross-linguistic variation in the domain of long-term language evolution. I will give an overview of research questions and methods in the field and then share results of my own studies devoted to the Arctic.
Spread of the language families attested today in the Arctic happened in five consecutive waves: each spread included more than one language family simultaneously establishing its presence in the Arctic region, and each occurred within a rather narrow time frame. I will discuss possible factors that could have launched the spreads, including major climate events. A particular role in the formation of modern linguistic geography of the Arctic has been played by language ideologies and patterns of social identity formation, which in turn also led to recurrent patterns of language change. The patterns are by no means unique cross-linguistically, but they seem to be particularly prevalent in the Arctic, setting up its distinctive profile on a worldwide linguistic map.