Syn-Thèses

Standard Languages and Geographical Varieties of Europe at the Crossroads of Contact Linguistics and Historical Dialectology

Call Deadline: 31-May-2026

In general approaches to language contact and contact-induced change, the subject of research is typically the linguistic consequences of interaction between communities speaking different languages (Goebl et al. 1996, Thomason 2001, Myers-Scotton 2002, Winford 2003, Siemund & Kintana 2008, Matras 2009, Hickey 2010, a.m.o.). Contact between geographical varieties of a language is usually analyzed under the same framework as with autonomous languages. One difference often highlighted is that borrowing between dialects can extend to features that are highly marked or highly integrated into a structure (e.g., in inflectional morphology), the borrowability of which is otherwise very low (cf. Thomason 2001:77). When distinct languages come into contact, it is easy to categorize any changes as either internal or external but between geographical dialects it is much more difficult to determine what is contact-induced and what is shared heritage (Epps et al. 2013). The problem stems from earlier models of historical linguistics (cf. Hickey 2018), which assumed that two linguistic systems are clearly separated from their common ancestor and subsequently evolve independently. However, varieties belonging to the same geographical area may influence each other, often for centuries.

About forty years ago, Trudgill (1986) brought contact dialectology to the forefront and highlighted the role of linguistic accommodation as a mechanism for the spread of innovations among dialects. Moreover, experts in the field point out that in essence linguistic innovation diffusion should be conceptualized as dialect contact (e.g., Britain 2010). Contact between dialects leads to the emergence of mixed, interdialectal varieties and eventually the formation of new dialects through processes of simplification, reduction, hybridization, and reallocation of existing variants (Trudgill 1986, Trudgill 2004, Britain 2018).

Although significant progress has been made in the study of dialect contact and its outcomes for several European languages in recent years (mainly English, as well as French and German), the field remains largely uncharted in the case of others (e.g., Greek, Italian, Slavic, Albanian etc.).

The forthcoming issue of the journal Syn-Thèses is designed to fill this gap by taking stock of less studied dialects in the light of contact linguistics and contact dialectology, and to set the relevant agenda with an eye towards inter-disciplinary contributions and cross-fertilization. The proposed topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

– How can the study of contacts of dialects among themselves and with other languages contribute to the theoretical discussion about the degree of borrowability of structural features in relation to criteria such as typological distance, markedness, and level of integration?
– What methodological tools can we apply or develop to better define the distinction between convergence features and common archaisms in non-standard geographical varieties?
– What new insights in the field of contact dialectology are provided by the study of diachronic and diatopic variation in the historical record of a language? Case studies on varieties spoken across geographical and social space at specific points in history (and the transitions between these points) are particularly welcome.
– Is there a coherent way to describe the dialect ecology that emerges after large-scale population movements? One such example is the population exchange of 1922 between Turkey and Greece which led to the transplantation of Asia Minor Greek to areas of Northern Greece and its coexistence with native dialects and Standard Modern Greek. This event alone set in motion a series of linguistic processes that have not yet been fully understood and remain to be studied (koineization processes and interdialectal features, formation of new dialects, dialect extinction etc.).
– What does the current decline of many regional varieties around Europe teach us within the framework of language /dialect death theory? (see Cambel & Muntzel 1989, Sasse 1992 e.g., Schilling-Estes & Wolfram 1999, Malikouti-Drachman 2000)

Please submit your manuscript to both guest editors, Assimakis Fliatouras, Democritus University of Thrace (afliatouras@yahoo.com), and Nikos Liosis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (nikosliosis@yahoo.gr).
Language: French, English, Greek
Editorial standards: https://ejournals.lib.auth.gr/syn-theses/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

Submission Timeline:

– 27 October – 31 May 2026: Submission of papers and start of the reviewing procedure
– 1 September 2026: Receipt of reviews; notification of acceptance and distribution to authors for revision
– 30 November 2026: Receipt of revised papers- 31 December 2026: Completion of editorial review of the full volume (Liosis & Fliatouras)
– Spring 2027: publication.

References:

Britain, D. 2010. Contact and dialectology. In: R. Hickey (ed.) The handbook of language contact. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 208–229.
Britain, D. 2018. Dialect Contact and New Dialect Formation. In: Ch. Boberg, J. Nerbonne, D. Watt (eds) The Handbook of Dialectology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 143–158.
Campbell, L. & M. Muntzel. 1989. The structural consequences of language death. In Ν. Dorian (ed.) Investigating obsolescence. Studies in language contraction and death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 181–196.
Epps, P. et al. 2013. Introduction: Contact among genetically related languages. Journal of Language Contact 6,2: 209-219.
Goebl, H., P. Nelde, Z. Stary, and W. Wölck, eds. 1996. Kontaktlinguistik/Contact linguistics. Handbücher zur sprachund Kommunikationswissenschaft. Vols. 12.1 and 12.2. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.
Hickey, R., ed. 2010. The handbook of language contact. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Hickey, R., 2018. Dialectology, Philology, and Historical Linguistics. In: Ch. Boberg, J. Nerbonne, D. Watt (eds) The Handbook of Dialectology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 23–38.
Matras, Y. 2009. Language contact. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Malikouti-Drachman, A. 2000. Συρρίκνωση διαλεκτικών συστημάτων. In: H ελληνική γλώσσα και οι διάλεκτοί της. Αθήνα: Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, 23–28.
Myers-Scotton, C. 2002. Contact linguistics. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Sasse, H.-J. 1992. Theory of language death. In: M. Brenzinger (ed.) Language death: Factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 7–30.
Thomason, S. G. 2001. Language contact: An introduction. Washington, DC: Georgetown Univ. Press
Trudgill, P. 1986. Dialects in contact. Oxford: Blackwell.
Trudgill, P. 2004. New Dialect Formation: The Inevitability of Colonial Englishes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Winford, D. 2003. An introduction to contact linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Schilling-Estes, N. & W. Wolfram. 1999. Alternative Models of Dialect Death: Dissipation and Concentration. Language 75:486–521.
Siemund P. & N. Kintana. 2008. Language Contact and Contact Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Linguistic Field(s): Discipline of Linguistics
Historical Linguistics