Contributions from an international team of experts revisit and update the concept of linguistic ecology in order to critically examine current theoretical approaches to language contact. Language is understood as a part of complex socio-historical-cultural systems, and interaction between the different dimensions and levels of these systems is considered to be essential for specific language forms. This book presents a uniform, abstract model of linguistic ecology based on, among other things, two concepts of Edmund Husserl's philosophy (parts and wholes, and foundation). It considers the individual speaker in the specific communication situation to be the essential heuristic basis of linguistic analysis. The chapters present and employ a new, transparent and accessible contact linguistic vocabulary to aid reader comprehension, and explore a wide range of language contact situations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. This book will be fascinating reading for students and researchers across contact linguistics and cultural studies.

'Following an extraordinarily thorough editorial overview, the topics covered here range from conversation and code-mixing to language contact writ large. This is a valuable treatment of an important area.' John Edwards, Editor, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

Ralph Ludwig is Professor of Romance Linguistics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Steve Pagel is Assistant Professor of Romance Linguistics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Peter Mühlhäusler is Emeritus Foundation Professor of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide and Supernumerary Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford.