Non-Dravidian elements and (non)diasystematic change in Malayalam

Abstract

By introducing a distinction between diaconstructions, which are language non-specific, and idioconstructions, which are language-specific, Diasystematic Construction Grammar (DCxG) cap- tures the fact that the borders between languages are often blurred (Höder 2012). Building on other construction-theoretic approaches, DCxG characterizes all languages as consisting of emergent sub-patterns of constructions. This includes hybrid or high-contact languages, which differ only in that those sub-patterns can be attributed (by analysts, not necessarily speakers) to a particular language. As such, DCxG provides an ideal framework for analyzing high-contact languages while also capturing smaller-scale contact effects. Crucially for those studying language contact, this does away with a need for a fundamental distinction between high- and low-contact languages (e.g., Faraclas & Klein 2009, Mufwene 2000).This chapter presents a DCxG analysis of non-Dravidian sounds and words in Malayalam, a Dravidian language with considerable influence from Sanskrit and English, as spoken in Kerala, India. Both Sanskrit- and English-origin words are highly frequent and appear across a variety of semantic domains. Analogous to Latinate and Germanic morphophonological sub-patterns in English, Sanskrit and English words in Malayalam have phonological patterns which are not found in Dravidian-origin words, such as heteroorganic clusters, certain codas, and voiced aspirated stops. I argue that any analysis of Malayalam must account for non-Dravidian sub-patterns, and I consider DCxG to be an attractive alternative to constraint-based approaches to loanword phonology.