Umberto Ansaldo

• PhD
• Head of Department at The University of Hong Kong

In this paper, we examine discourses about border and scale in the context of Hong Kong’s relationship with mainland China. We argue that, as the physical and political borders between Hong Kong and the mainland are eroding, other forms of bordering practices – such as linguistic borders – become more salient and contested. We draw on selected them...

Capturing the intense interest in research on Englishes worldwide, Bloomsbury Advances in World Englishes promotes approaches to the complexities of world Englishes from a multitude of linguistic perspectives. Responding to recent trends in socio-cognitive, critical sociolinguistic, contact linguistic and communication-based research, books in this...

This chapter outlines a research framework in which pidgin and Creole languages (PCL) are conceptualized as adaptive systems with inherent idiolectal variation, a prerequisite to evolutionary change. Although such variation is present in all languages, PCL evolve in highly heterogeneous and multilingual ecologies characterized by certain sociohisto...

This paper reviews a number of specific features typical of analytic languages, in an attempt to investigate whether Creole languages can indeed be grouped, at least structurally, with other languages of the analytic (or isolating) type. Based on Sybesma et al. (forthcoming) , a study of the nature of analyticity, we select eight features which con...

This paper consists of four related arguments: we first review the claims about the nature of grammaticalization in isolating languages, specifically those of East and Mainland Southeast Asia (EMSEA); based on this we present a view that suggests that grammaticalization is indeed a type-specific, or areal, phenomenon. Following on that we propose t...

This study explores the range and diversity of the typological features of Mandarin, the largest dialect group within the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Feeding the typological data of 42 Sinitic varieties into the phylogenetic program NeighborNet, we obtained network diagrams suggesting a north-south divide in the Mandarin dialect grou...

In this paper I argue that Creoles are sociolinguistically some of the most complex language ecologies. Based on an analysis of sociolinguistic profiles as given in APiCs I illustrate the complex multilingual competencies typical of Creole speakers. As this thesis casts doubt on the assumed correlation between Creole grammars and simplicity, I revi...

This chapter surveys areal features in the range of modality and mood marking in two contact regions, viz. Europe and MSEA (mainland Southeast Asia), in the context of a discussion of general features and properties—language-internal and -external ones—of linguistic areality. It starts out with a general typology of individual borrowing processes a...

Introducing new findings from popular culture, the globalised new economy and computer-mediated communication, this is a fascinating study of contact between languages in modern societies. Ansaldo and Lim bring together research on multilingualism, code-switching, language endangerment, and globalisation, into a comprehensive overview of world Engl...

Investigating the origins of language is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating quests of modern science. There are a number of reasons why this is so. First, language may not be the only thing that makes us humans, but it is surely one of a few salient traits of our humanity. Then, consider the mindboggling range of exciting questions that we ask...

In this study we investigate how the human brain processes small clauses and finite clauses. Small clauses are instances of ‘simpler’ syntax in the sense that they do not involve operations such as Move and Tense, and have been argued to represent an earlier stage of syntactic evolution before the development of fully-fledged syntax (Bickerton, 199...

This paper discusses the results of scholarship on Sri Lanka Malay based on the studies presented in Nordhoff 2013 in terms of theory, method, and social impact. It touches on a variety of topics including the significance of recent genetic evidence for old theories of language genesis, as well as the efforts for revitalization sparked by the scien...

This handbook takes stock of recent advances in the history of English, the most studied language in the field of diachronic linguistics. Not only does ample and invaluable data exist due to English’s status as a global language, but the availability of large electronic corpora has also allowed historical linguists to analyze more of this data than...

This book shifts the focus of Pidgin and Creole Studies from the better-known Atlantic/Caribbean contexts to the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and Mongolia. By looking at Asian contexts before and after Western colonial expansion, we offer readers insights into language contact in historical settings and with empirical features substantially di...

Since creole languages draw their properties from both their substrate and superstrate sources, the typological classification of creoles has long been a major issue for creolists, typologists, and linguists in general. Several contradictory proposals have been put forward in the literature. For example, creole languages typologically pair with the...

Since creole languages draw their properties from both their substrate and superstrate sources, the typological classification of creoles has long been a major issue for creolists, typologists, and linguists in general. Several contradictory proposals have been put forward in the literature. For example, creole languages typologically pair with the...

1. Overview During the last two weeks of June, the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) organized the Summer Institute in Cognitive Sciences 2010 (UQÀM 2010, 21–30 June 2010). This year's topic was "the hardest problem in science" (Christiansen & Kirby 2003a) — the origins of language. Language orig...

In multilingual ecologies we find communities that, in certain sociohistorical environments, undergo significant changes in their linguistic repertoire through contact, which often result in a type of shift that leads to the creation of new grammatical patterns. The ecology of language creation typically involves closely-knit minority/diasporic gro...

This article presents a historical account of the role and function in linguistic theorising of the concepts “native speaker” and “mother tongue”, and serves to introduce a number of articles (Language Sciences vol. 32 no. 6) raising questions about various aspects of the idealised monolingualism that underlies much modern linguistics.

The Surpass (or Exceed) comparative is a widespread feature of Sinitic languages found in almost all 'dialect' groups. This article investigates the nature of Surpass constructions in Southern Chinese varieties with a focus on Cantonese, and in unrelated languages of Southeast Asia, where Surpass comparatives are also found (Thai, Lao and Vietnames...

In this paper we revisit some long-standing questions regarding the origins and structure of China Coast Pidgin (CCP), also known as Chinese Pidgin English. We first review the historical context of the China Trade which formed the ecology for the development of CCP. We then review the available sources, focusing on newly transcribed data from Chin...

Parts of Speech are a central aspect of linguistic theory and analysis. Though a long-established tradition in Western linguistics and philosophy has assumed the validity of Parts of Speech in the study of language, there are still many questions left unanswered. For example, should Parts of Speech be treated as descriptive tools or are they to be...

This paper looks at the emergence of Asian English varieties in terms of the evolution of new grammatical features. I propose that, in order to reach a thorough understanding of how the unique combination of grammatical features that define specific Asian Englishes come about, we must approach these features from a typological and evolutionary pers...

Why do groups of speakers in certain times and places come up with new varieties of languages? What are the social settings that determine whether a mixed language, a pidgin or a Creole will develop, and how can we understand the ways in which different languages contribute to the new grammar? Through the study of Malay contact varieties such as Ba...

The aim of this paper is to present a view of contact language formation in which language creation in multilingual ecologies follows the same principles as language maintenance in monolingual ecologies, i.e. selection and replication of features available to speakers in a given environment. In order to do so, I introduce the foundations underlying...

This paper addresses the issue of complexity in language creation and the time it takes for 'complex' structures to emerge in the history of a language. The presence of morphological material is often equated to a certain degree of complexity or is taken to signify a certain time-depth in the history of a language (e.g. Dahl 2004; McWhorter 2005)....

Parts of Speech are a central aspect of linguistic theory and analysis. Though a long-established tradition in Western linguistics and philosophy has assumed the validity of Parts of Speech in the study of language, there are still many questions left unanswered. For example, should Parts of Speech be treated as descriptive tools or are they to be...

This paper presents a fresh take on the origins and nature of Sri Lanka Malay (SLM), based on fieldwork data collected in 2003–2005 in Kirinda, in the south-east of Sri Lanka. It departs from previous studies of SLM in that it is based on substantial recordings of spoken data in natural settings as well as coverage of oral and written history. Work...

Deconstructing Creole is a collection of studies aimed at critically assessing the idea of creole languages as a homogeneous structural type with shared and peculiar patterns of genesis. Following up on the critical discussion of notions of ‘creole exceptionalism’ as historical and ideological constructs, this volume tests the basic assumptions tha...

Deconstructing Creole is a collection of studies aimed at critically assessing the idea of creole languages as a homogeneous structural type with shared and peculiar patterns of genesis. Following up on the critical discussion of notions of ‘creole exceptionalism’ as historical and ideological constructs, this volume tests the basic assumptions tha...

Deconstructing Creole is a collection of studies aimed at critically assessing the idea of creole languages as a homogeneous structural type with shared and peculiar patterns of genesis. Following up on the critical discussion of notions of ‘creole exceptionalism’ as historical and ideological constructs, this volume tests the basic assumptions tha...

The diasporic Malay communities of Sri Lanka are characterised by a unique language, Sri Lanka Malay (SLM), a mixed language of trilingual base. Constituting less than 0.3% of the population, the Malays of Sri Lanka are an extremely vulnerable community in the sense of Hyltenstam and Stroud (2005). While the Malays have always tended to be multilin...

Umberto Ansaldo is Lecturer in Theoretical Linguistics within the Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, Universiteit van Amsterdam. He teaches, among other things, Creole Studies, Language Contact, Perspectives on Universals, and Linguistic Typology. His main interests and publications lie in linguistic typology an...

Umberto Ansaldo is Lecturer in Theoretical Linguistics within the Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, Universiteit van Amsterdam. He teaches, among other things, Creole Studies, Language Contact, Perspectives on Universals, and Linguistic Typology. His main interests and publications lie in linguistic typology an...

Umberto Ansaldo is Lecturer in Theoretical Linguistics within the Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, Universiteit van Amsterdam. He teaches, among other things, Creole Studies, Language Contact, Perspectives on Universals, and Linguistics Typology. His main interests and publications lie in linguistic typology a...

This paper focuses on some of the theoretical assumptions presented in Enfield, 2003 (Review of `Enfield, N.J., 2003. Linguistic Epidemiology: Semantics and grammar of language contact in mainland Southeast Asia. Routledge Curzon, London and New York, pp. xv + 397') and their consequences for contemporary linguistic theory. In particular, I revisit...

This volume contains a selection of fifteen papers presented at three consecutive meetings of the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, held in Washington, D.C. (January 2001); Coimbra, Portugal (June 2001); and San Francisco (January 2002). The fifteen articles offer a balanced sampling of creolists’ current research interests. All of the con...

Singapore English: A grammatical description provides a vivid account of current, contemporary Singapore English, complementing older seminal accounts of this variety. Drawing primarily on the Grammar of Spoken Singapore English Corpus, which comprises naturally-occurring conversational speech, the contributions in this volume not only provide comp...

The basic idea behind this volume is to probe the nature of grammaticalization. Its contributions focus on the following questions: (i) In how far can grammaticalization be considered a universal diachronic process or mechanism of change and in how far is it conditioned by synchronic factors? (ii) What is the role of the speaker in grammaticalizati...

Singapore English: A grammatical description provides a vivid account of current, contemporary Singapore English, complementing older seminal accounts of this variety. Drawing primarily on the Grammar of Spoken Singapore English Corpus, which comprises naturally-occurring conversational speech, the contributions in this volume not only provide comp...

This paper is concerned with the aspect of prosodic reduction typically observed in grammaticalised items within languages of the isolating, tonal type. In particular, it focuses on the prosodic features of grammaticalised morphemes in Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien (Min), and introduces three types of common prosodic erosion found in these langua...

Thesis (doctoral)--Stockholm University, 1999.