Language contact and morphological competition: Plurals in central Sicily. (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cruschina, Silvio
• Is Part Of: Word structure. Volume 14:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 174
• Page End: 194
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: plural -- inflectional class -- speaker age -- language contact -- Sicilian; Grammar, Comparative and general -- Morphology -- Periodicals; 415
• DOI: 10.3366/word.2021.0186
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-1245

Abstract

Abstract : This paper explores the effects of language contact in the nominal morphology of central Sicilian dialects. In particular, this study is concerned with the contact-induced changes related to the distribution of three plural formatives that give rise to competition between different inflectional classes with respect to a number of lexemes. It is shown that sociolinguistic factors such as speaker age account for the distribution of the competing plural forms and the high degree of variation. As a consequence, a slow and gradual change is leading to the disappearance of the plural form that has no equivalent in the contact language, that is, in Italian.