none 10.1075/silv.16.03hod John Benjamins Publishing Company John Benjamins Publishing Company 1757 72121920 1595761 1421067 202507030918000036 10.1075 2025-07-03T03:17:46Z 2014-11-14T13:41:55Z 19 1872-9592 10.1075/silv https://benjamins.com/ catalog/silv Kurt Braunmüller University of Hamburg https://ror.org/00g30e956 Steffen Höder University of Kiel https://ror.org/04v76ef78 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5129-3443 Karoline Kühl University of Copenhagen https://ror.org/035b05819 Factors and Mechanisms Convergence, i.e. the increase of inter-systemic similarities, is usually considered the default development in language contact situations. This volume focuses on the other logical possibilities of diachronic development, namely stability and divergence – two well-attested, but under-researched phenomena. The contributions investigate the sociolinguistic and structural factors and mechanisms that lead to or at least reinforce both types of non-convergence, despite of language contact. The contributions cover a wide range of language contact situations, including standard and non-standard varieties. 16 11 26 2014 11 14 2014 9789027234964 9789027269553 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam 10.1075/silv.16 http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027269553 https://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/9789027269553.pdf https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/silv.16/html Steffen Höder https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5129-3443 Convergence and divergence are usually defined as changes in opposite directions – convergence increases, divergence decreases interlingual similarities between two given languages or varieties. Additionally, convergence is often explained as the ‘natural’, expectable process in language contact, whereas divergence is associated with psychosocial mechanisms. Based on observations from the recent development of Low German in its present intense contact with High German, this contribution argues that the distinction between convergence and divergence is not as straightforward as it seems and that it is not convergence as such that can be explained without the involvement of any extralinguistic factors, but rather pro-diasystematic change (as opposed to counter-diasystematic change) – i.e. innovations that facilitate the establishment of language-unspecific structures in a common constructional system. 11 26 2014 11 14 2014 39 60 10.1075/silv.16.03hod https://benjamins.com/catalog/silv.16.03hod https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/silv.16.03hod/html Grammars in Contact. A Cross-linguistic Typology Aikhenvald 1 2007 10.1093/oso/9780199207831.003.0001 Grammars in contact. A cross-linguistic perspective Morphosyntax nominaler Einheiten im Niederdeutschen Berg 2013 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299554.001.0001 Sociolinguistics. An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society Durrell 2 195 2004 10.1515/9783110141894.1.2.195 Linguistic variable – linguistic variant 10.1515/9783484605299.66 Low Saxon Dialects Across Borders Elmentaler 339 2009 Modernes Niedersächsisch – Dialektwandel im nordniederdeutschen Raum Constructions. A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure Goldberg 1995 Constructions at Work. The Nature of Generalization in Language Goldberg 2006 Studying Bilinguals Grosjean 2008 10.1093/oso/9780199281282.001.0001 Transfer bei Diglossie. Synchrone Sprachkontaktphänomene im Niederdeutschen Hansen-Jaax 1995 Language and Space. An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation, Vol. 1: Theories and Methods Harnisch 275 2010 Divergence of linguistic varieties in a language space Bilingualism in the Americas. A Bibliography and Research Guide Haugen 1956 10.1017/CBO9780511614132 Dialect Change. Convergence and Divergence in European Languages Hinskens 1 2005 10.1017/CBO9780511486623.003 The study of dialect convergence and divergence. Conceptual and methodological considerations Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch Höder 134 113 2011 Niederdeutsch und Norddeutsch – ein Fall von Diasystematisierung 10.1075/hsm.13.17hod 10.1075/slcs.154.07hod Syllable and Word Languages Höder 10.1515/9783110346992.305 Low German: A profile of a word language The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar Hoffmann 2012 10.1017/CBO9780511809873 10.1515/9783110245158.31 Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wörterbuch. Volksausgabe Mensing 1927–1935 Plattdeutsch im 21. Jahrhundert. Bestandsaufnahme und Perspektiven Möller 2008 10.1080/00437956.1960.11659724 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299530.001.0001 The Syntax-Semantics Interface Peterson 10.1515/9783110720297-005 Multilingualism, multilectalism and register variation in linguistic theory. Extending the diasystematic approach 10.1163/000000007792548341 10.1515/soci.2012.26.1.18 Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch Schröder 132 41 2009 Sprachvariation in Norddeutschland (SiN) Niederdeutsches Jahrbuch Schröder 134 137 2011 Standardadvergenz im nördlichen Niedersachsen? 10.1080/00437956.1954.11659535 Languages in Contact. Findings and Problems Weinreich 3 1964 [1953]