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Switch editorYou have switched to source editingCloseYou can switch back to visual editing at any time by clicking on this icon.Visual editingSource editingMorePreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text===Contact=== {{main|Language contact}} [[File:Novi Sad mayor office.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Multilingualism|Multilingual]] sign outside the [[mayor]]'s office in [[Novi Sad]], written in the four official languages of the city: [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], and [[Pannonian Rusyn language|Pannonian Rusyn]]]] One source of language change is contact and the resulting [[Trans-cultural diffusion|diffusion]] of linguistic traits between languages. Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or [[Variety (linguistics)|varieties]] interact on a regular basis.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Thomason|2001|p=1}}</ref> [[Multilingualism]] is likely to have been the norm throughout [[human history]] and most people in the modern world are multilingual. Before the rise of the concept of the [[Nation state|ethno-national state]], monolingualism was characteristic mainly of populations inhabiting small islands. But with the ideology that made one people, one state, and one language the most desirable political arrangement, monolingualism started to spread throughout the world. There are only 250 countries in the world corresponding to some 6,000 languages, which means that most countries are multilingual and most languages therefore exist in close contact with other languages.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Romaine|2001|p=513}}</ref> When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for their languages to influence each other. Through sustained language contact over long periods, linguistic traits diffuse between languages, and languages belonging to different families may converge to become more similar. In areas where many languages are in close contact, this may lead to the formation of [[Sprachbund|language areas]] in which unrelated languages share a number of linguistic features. A number of such language areas have been documented, among them, the [[Balkan language area]], the [[Mesoamerican language area]], and the [[Ethiopian language area]]. Also, larger areas such as [[South Asia]], Europe, and Southeast Asia have sometimes been considered language areas because of the widespread diffusion of specific [[areal feature (linguistics)|areal features]].<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Campbell|2002}}</ref><ref>{{harvcoltxt|Aikhenvald|2001}}</ref> [[File:Trilingual signboard in the Imphal International Airport (Tulihal International Airport) displaying in Meitei, Hindi and English languages.jpg|thumb|Multilingualism is also common in the [[Indian Republic]]. The signboard is displayed in the [[Imphal International Airport]] in [[Meitei language|Meitei]], [[Hindi]] and [[Indian English|English]], some of the [[official languages of the Indian Republic]].]] Language contact may also lead to a variety of other linguistic phenomena, including [[language convergence]], [[loanword|borrowing]], and [[relexification]] (the replacement of much of the native vocabulary with that of another language). In situations of extreme and sustained language contact, it may lead to the formation of new [[mixed language]]s that cannot be considered to belong to a single language family. One type of mixed language called [[pidgins]] occurs when adult speakers of two different languages interact on a regular basis, but in a situation where neither group learns to speak the language of the other group fluently. In such a case, they will often construct a communication form that has traits of both languages, and that has a simplified grammatical and phonological structure. The language comes to contain mostly the grammatical and phonological categories that exist in both languages. Pidgin languages are defined by not having any native speakers, but only being spoken by people who have another language as their first language. But if the Pidgin language becomes the main language of a speech community, then eventually children will grow up learning the Pidgin language as their first language. As the generation of child learners grows up, the pidgin will often be seen to change its structure and acquire a greater degree of complexity. This type of language is generally called a [[creole language]]. An example of such mixed languages is [[Tok Pisin]], the official language of [[Papua New Guinea]], which originally arose as a Pidgin based on English and [[Austronesian languages]]; others are [[Haitian Creole|Kreyòl ayisyen]], the French-based creole language spoken in [[Haiti]], and [[Michif language|Michif]], a mixed language of Canada, based on the Native American language [[Cree language|Cree]] and French.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Thomason|Kaufman|1988}}; {{harvcoltxt|Thomason|2001}}; {{harvcoltxt|Matras|Bakker|2003}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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