Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2005
AN INTRODUCTION TO CONTACT LINGUISTICS. Donald Winford. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. Pp. xvii + 416. $77.95 cloth, $38.95 paper.
Winford begins with a thorough review of the literature on language contact and an outline of the areas of dispute—for instance, challenges to the family tree view of language change and the resistance of many to accept explanations for change that are not internally motivated. He believes that more debate is necessary concerning the degree of language mixing in all languages and laments the continued belief held by some historical linguists that contact-induced change plays little—if any—role in change.