A language island (a calque of German Sprachinsel; also language enclave, language pocket) is an enclave of a language that is surrounded by one or more different languages.^[1] The term was introduced in 1847.^[2] Many of them also have a distinct culture.

Examples of language islands:

Zhongshan Min can be seen in the west coast of the Pearl River Delta, far from the rest of Southern Min

Tianjinnese, a Central Mandarin variety surrounded by Northern varieties^[3]
Ganzhounese, a Southwestern Mandarin variety surrounded by Hakka in southern Jiangxi, being one of the many Junhua
Cantonese spoken in Sichuan Province
Hangzhounese, a Mandarinic variety surrounded by Northern Wu lects, caused by the change of capital during the Southern Song Dynasty^[4]
Zhongshan Min, a Southern Min language surrounded by Yue varieties, caused by migrants seeking shelter during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Gallery

The predominantly French-speaking enclave of Brussels surrounded by Dutch-speaking area
Language islands in Romania
Sorbian language area in Germany

References

^ Language and Space. An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation, Volume 1, 2009, Section "The history of language island research (Sprachinselforschung)", p.335
^ Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens, Paul Kerswill. Dialect change: convergence and divergence in European languages. p. 221. "The term 'Sprachinsel' was used for the first time in 1847 to designate a Slavonic community surrounded by a German-speaking population close to Konigsberg, East Prussia cf. Mattheier 1996. 812"
^ 李世瑜; 韩根东 (1991). "略论天津方言岛". 天津师大学报 (2).
^ Richard VanNess Simmons (1999). Chinese Dialect Classification: A comparative approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn, and Common Northern Wu. John Benjamins Publishing Co.

Gallery

See also

References