Areal Linguistics
Areal linguistics is viewed as an outgrowth of genetic linguistics that studies similarities between the languages of a specific region due to their mutual influence or convergence [Gilbers, с. 263]. It came to existence due to the discovery that in certain regions, such as the Balkan, India, and the Baltic region, there were similarities between languages that could not be explained genetically. Areal linguistics explains the diffusion of structural features across the languages of a geographical area [Campbell]. One of the basic notions of areal linguistics is linguistic area which is viewed as a particular geographical area in which, due to borrowing and language contact, languages of a region have come to share structural features [Campbell]. It refers to a geographical area in which languages of different genetic origins share certain borrowed features, such as vocabulary, phonological, grammatical, or syntactic structure [Campbell].
According to the researchers on language contact Thomason 2001; Hickey 2010, there is no part of a language which cannot be borrowed by speakers of another language. Therefore, it greatly touches the question of borrowings. Thus, the most affected levels of language and borrowing are: - vocabulary (loanwords, phrases); - sounds; - speech habits (general pronunciation, suprasegmentals (stress, intonation)); - sentence structure, word-order; - grammar (morphology: inflections) [Hickey, p. 27].
⠀ Gilbers, D.G. (2000). Languages in contact. Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics. Vol. 28. Amsterdam Atlanta, GA: Rodopi. P. 263-275.
⠀ Campbell, L. Linguistics areas. Retrieved from: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/e-learning/Campbell%20linguistic%20areas%20Davis.pdf
⠀ Hickey, R. (2015). The Cambridge Handbook of Areal Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. 393 p.