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The paper applies the Code Copying Framework (ccf) to Estonian-Russian language contacts in Live Journal blogs. The nature of blogs (an asynchronous, more written-like genre) allows us to look into individual multilingual practices and to discover aspects of contact-induced change that are absent in oral communication (choice of script, rendition of other-language items etc). ccf distinguishes between global copying (akin to code-switching/borrowing in other frameworks), selective copying (phenomena in morphosyntax, semantics etc) and mixed copying. The latter means that one component of a complex item is a global copy and the other a selective one and occurs in multi-word items (compounds, constructions, analytic forms, idioms). Six types of mixed copies are analysed. It is argued that this type of copying requires closer attention because 1) it demonstrates what is perceived as a collocation or multiword unit by a multilingual user; 2) it contributes to the understanding of meaning (semantically specific components are likely to be copied globally; 3) it is in accordance with notions in cognitive linguistics (compositionality, blending).
Abstract
Multilingualism is a characteristic feature of Yiddish speakers in the Baltic region, and contact-induced language change is natural in this case. To date, some Baltic German impact on the local varieties of Yiddish has been discussed in the literature. This article focuses on the phonic impact of Estonian on Estonian Yiddish. The study is based on acoustic analysis of Estonian Yiddish sound recordings. The North Baltic area forms a separate region in the Baltic Sprachbund; Yiddish spoken in Samogitia and Courland as well as Estonian Yiddish exhibit several features typical of this language area. It is demonstrated that there is an overlap of basic prosodic categories with co-territorial languages, such as centralized stress and a quantity opposition. A distinctive feature common to Estonian and Estonian Yiddish is the limited reduction of vowels and a tendency to maintain stable durational ratios of the primary stressed syllable and following unstressed syllables.