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Sociolinguistic Typology: Social Determinants of Linguistic Complexity. Peter TRUDGILL. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. xxxviii + 236. $35-00 (paper).
Trudgill's argument is that "complexity" (a dubious term, see below) of a language Lx correlates, statistically though not absolutely, with five factors whose values also tend to cluster into two poles:
* high versus low contact with other languages, measured by the extent of adult outsiders acquiring Lx as second language (pp. 16, 34,99);
* unstable versus stable social situation of the Lx-speaking community over time (pp. 3,9);
* large versus small Lx-speaking community (pp. 99-100);
* weak versus strong (dense or multiplex) networks within the Lx-speaking community (p. 104);
* low versus high extent of communally shared information (p. 127).
The definition of high versus low contact is carefully constructed, excluding various types of situations that for other purposes could be considered as high contact. By Trudgill's definition Lx is not in a high contact situation when its own speakers also speak a national language or lingua franca, even though this may lead to extensive borrowing. Nor is it in a high contact situation when there is recurrent intermarriage with speakers of another low-population language, so that child bilingualism is dominant. The only situation that meets his definition of high contact is when large numbers of adult outsiders learn to speak L* imperfectly.
One polar type has high contact, an unstable social situation, a large community, weak networks, and low communally shared information. This syndrome, characteristic of most standard national languages but also of creoles, strongly favors (and perhaps compels) simplification or the maintenance of inherited simplicity. The other polar type has low contact, a stable situation, a small community, strong (dense) networks, and broad sharing of information. This is the small-scale language community, isolated by geography, by an absence of in-migration, or by both, and it allows (but need not compel) complexification or the maintenance of inherited complexity. I refer to these below as the "standard/creole"...