Variation and change in endangered languages

Many indigenous languages currently face endangerment. Language shift involves not only social practices of bi/multilingualism with a dominant language(s), but also impact on the structure of an endangered language itself. Specifically, it can lead to great variation and significant changes in its phonetics and morphosyntax (cf. Dorian 1981; 1989; 2010; Schmidt 1985; Grinevald & Bert 2011; Stanford & Preston 2009; Hildebrandt et al. 2017). 

The workshop aims to consider structural variation and change in endangered languages depending on various linguistic and extralinguistic factors, such as:

• Structural features of an endangered language (see, e.g., Gruzdeva & Vakhtin 2017 on language shift effects in polysynthetic languages)
• Intensity of contact and duration of language shift (see, e.g., Khanina 2021 for an explanation of the surprisingly few structural changes in the moribund Enets language, which is due to an abrupt break in language transmission)
• Factors associated with language policies and language attitudes, including language oppression, educational policy and revitalization (see on structural peculiarities in new speakers, e.g., in Rodríguez-Ordoñez 2021; Nance & Moran 2022; Gondra et al. 2024)
• Factors related to a speech community, such as its size (cf., e.g., Evans 2001 on individual features of a speaker as a relevant factor), dialectal diversity, geographical dispersity, mobility, accessibility of communication between community members (cf., e.g., Partanen & Saarikivi 2016 on a growing variation in language shift, induced by a fragmentation of a speech community)

Other relevant questions are:

Simplification vs. complexification of language structure in language shift. A widespread assumption on shift-induced phenomena is that a language system undergoes simplification; however, recent studies show that the picture is much more complicated (see, e.g., Kantarovich, Grenoble, et al. 2021).

Structural change or individual variation. Variation at all language levels can occur both within individuals and between individuals, potentially leading to language change over time (Eckert 2018). Under what circumstances does linguistic variation become recognized as language change? The border between variation and change is not always clear (for example, noun incorporation in Chukchi is far less productive among attriting and new speakers than among older speakers, but all groups still share a common system of rules regulating its variable use, Kantarovich 2022).

Outcomes of language contact vs. language shift. An endangered language influenced by a socially dominant one manifests not only phenomena specific for language shift (“language attrition”), but also phenomena generally associated with language contact, e.g., pattern borrowing (Matras & Sakel 2007). The question arises whether there is a clear borderline between contact-induced and shift-induced phenomena and if so, which ones are more prevalent in an endangered language.

Within the workshop, we hope to represent linguistic and sociolinguistic diversity as much as possible. Case-studies in endangered languages of various areas and families, as well as comparative studies are welcome.

The topics we are planning to discuss at the workshop include, but are not limited to the following:

• Phonetic and morphosyntactic variation in endangered languages
• Phonetic and morphosyntactic change in endangered languages
• Structural patterns of code-switching and adaptation of borrowings specific for endangered languages

References

Dorian, N. (1981). Language Death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Dorian, N. (ed.). (1989). Investigating obsolescence: studies in language contraction and death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dorian, N. (2010). Investigating variation: the effects of social organization and social setting. Oxford: OUP.

Eckert, P. (2018). Meaning and linguistic variation: The Third Wave in sociolinguistics. Cambridge: CUP.

Evans, N. (2001). The last speaker is dead – long live the last speaker! In: Newman P, Ratliff M. (eds.). Linguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 250-281.

Gondra, A., Rodríguez-Ordóñez, I., Franco-Landa, E. (2024). Variation in the production of Basque ergativity: Change or stable variation? Language Variation and Change, 36(1), 95-120.

Grinevald, C., Bert, M. (2011). Speakers and Communities. In: Austin, P., Sallabank, J (eds). Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 45-65.

Gruzdeva, E., Vakhtin N. (2017). Language obsolescence in polysynthetic languages. In: Fortescue, M., Mithun, M., Evans, N. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Polysynthesis. New York: Oxford University Press, 428-448.

Hildebrandt, K. et al. (eds.). (2017). Documenting Variation in Endangered Languages. University of Hawai'i Press.

Kantarovich, J. (2022). Language variation in a shifting community: Different patterns of noun incorporation in Modern Chukchi. International Journal of Bilingualism, 26(5), 620-638.

Kantarovich, J., Grenoble, L., et al. (2021). Complexity and Simplification in Language Shift. Frontiers in Communication, 6.

Khanina, O. (2021). Enets – Russian language contact. In: Grenoble, L., Forker, D. (eds.) Language contact in the territory of the former Soviet Union. New York: Benjamins, 85-118.

Matras, Y., Sakel, J. (2007). Investigating the mechanisms of pattern replication in language convergence. Studies in Language, 31(4), 829-865.

Nance, C. L., Moran, D. (2022). Place identity and authenticity in minority language revitalisation: Scottish Gaelic in Glasgow. International Journal of Bilingualism, 26(5), 542-563.

Partanen, N., Saarikivi, J. (2016). Fragmentation of the Karelian language and its community: growing variation at the threshold of language shift. In: Toivanen, R., Saarikivi, J. (eds.). Linguistic genocide or superdiversity? New and old language diversities. Bristol, Buffalo: Multilingual Matters, 21-64.

Rodríguez-Ordóñez, I. (2021). The role of social meaning in contact- induced variation among new speakers of Basque. Journal of sociolinguistics, 25(4): 533-556.

Schmidt, A. (1985). Young People’s Dyirbal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stanford, J.N., Preston, D. (eds.). (2009). Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Abstract submission

Abstracts should be anonymous. They should not exceed one page (excluding examples, figures, and references).

Abstracts should be submitted to the conference email address vacel.slm"AT"uni-hamburg.de as PDF files. Please indicate the following information in the body of your email:

• your name(s);
• title of your paper;
• your affiliation(s);
• your email(s);
• if you need an invitation (e.g. for a visa).

Working languages

English, German

Invited speakers

Dr. Ekaterina Gruzdeva (University of Helsinki)

Important dates

• Abstract submission deadline: February 28, 2026

• Notification of acceptance: April 1, 2026

• Conference dates: October 1-2, 2026

Registration and fee

There is no registration fee. If your abstract has been accepted, you do not need to register in advance.

Organizers

Beáta Wagner-Nagy, Vlada Baranova, Natalia Stoynova

Program committee

Beáta Wagner-Nagy, Vlada Baranova, Maria Brykina, Natalia Stoynova, Hannah Wegener

Contact

Email: vacel.slm"AT"uni-hamburg.de

Website: https://www.slm.uni-hamburg.de/ifuu/forschung/tagungen/variation-and-change.html