Presented by Nathan M. White

Monday 17 October 2022 | 1.00pm

Zoom Details: https://jcu.zoom.us/j/81555314417?pwd=Qmk2UWNXMTdVbE9RSno5enpmZ21Udz09

The indigenous Yokuts languages of Central California, USA and their neighbours experienced centuries of contact and interaction between one another, as well as two waves of colonisation, first by speakers of Spanish, then by speakers of English. This experience has led to layers of language contact effects, between Yokuts and other indigenous languages on the one hand, and colonial languages on the other. These layers include lexical and grammatical effects, which heretofore have not been systematically studied or reported. The current talk seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of research to date specifically in regard to the southern Yokuts languages with reference to neighbouring languages to their south. The most notable aspect of the phenomena is how the two colonisation events have had unique development effects on the languages in question, especially the continuing influence of Spanish, associated with the first colonial period, long after the second, i.e., American, colonial period began. The talk will be of special interest to those interested in language contact generally as well as those interested in how colonisation events can impact indigenous languages.

Image: pixabay.com/first-nation/NatashaG