Between Separation and Symbiosis: Southeastern European Languages and Cultures in Contact

This book details the previously understudied types of language contact settings in the Balkans, which present a continuum between ethnic and linguistic separation and symbiosis of groups of people. The authors critically revisit the Balkan Sprachbund theory; analyze language contact theories based on new, original and authentic representative field and historical data; develop and implement contemporary research methods to study linguistic convergence in bilingual societies; propose generalizations of extra- and intralinguistic factors of historical balkanization; and provide an outlook for future research.
The book provides synthesis and analysis of experimental, confirmed and existing knowledge about the dialects (idioms) of multiethnic, multilingual populations. The authors focus on the idioms of bi- and multilingual speakers of the following languages in different contact settings to each other: Greek, Albanian, Romance and Slavic in Krk, Carașova, Mrkovici, Golloborda, Prespa, Himara and Tsakonia.
The authors identify and typologize factors that are relevant to the contact scenarios and linguistic change in the Balkans, such as balanced or unbalanced (socio)linguistic situations.