Language Mixture Introduction

A. Words are only the beginning of how languages mix. Languages consist not only of words but of how the words are put together: grammar. In situations where large numbers of people are bilingual, the two languages they speak often come to resemble one another on the level of sounds and sentence structure, as well as exchanging words— rather like married couples who gradually begin to look like each other over the decades.

B. This happens most readily when literacy in the language is not widespread, such that there is relatively little sense that a standard variety is “The Language.” For that reason, this kind of grammar mixture has largely occurred beneath the radar screen of writing— before the last several centuries in languages familiar to most of us. Yet its impact has played a major part in determining what the world’s languages are like today, especially considering that only about 200 of the world’s 6,000 languages are written regularly.