Linguistics & Language · Historical & Comparative Linguistics
A topic within Historical & Comparative Linguistics, itself one of 10 topics in that field and part of Linguistics & Language.
2 works
Otto Jespersen
Argues that English's vocabulary and even parts of its grammar were reshaped less by internal drift than by successive waves of contact with Norse, French and Latin, and treats borrowing as a normal engine of language change.
link failing as of 17 Sept 2026Uriel Weinreich
Argues that what happens when speakers use two languages is not random interference but a structured outcome of how the two grammars and vocabularies differ, and lays out a framework for predicting which features transfer.