League

Translations

lega linguistica | - | Sprachbund

Article

A league is a set of languages that exist withing a linguistic area and that, over a long period of very intensive contact, converge and end up showing common structural featured, even though they are not necessarily related with each other (Matras 2010, 287). An alternative label, that of convergence area (Weinreich 1958), refers to a georgaphical area rather than to the languages involved.

Example

No examples of ascertained language leagues exist before the European Middle ages. The limits of linguistic analysis of corpus languages probably contribute to preventing a safe identification.

References

Matras, Y. 2010. Language Contact, Cambridge. Weinreich, U. 1958. Languages in Contact, New York.