Do island languages exist? Is there anything distinct about languages spoken on islands and island languages as compared to islands spoken on mainlands and continents? This workshop is intended as a round table in which participants exchange information about the islands and languages they have worked on in the attempt to find common denominators about the languages. There are some cases of islands with creole languages, others where there is a colonial settler language, and locations where there is an indigenous language or a newly developed non-creole language or a genderlect. There is a great diversity of islands, locations, geographies, and linguistic mixing around the world. 

At the workshop there will be three rounds of presentation. The first round will be devoted to information exchange about the islands, the second round to language information, and the third part to finding out more about any detailed linguistic commonalities and differences, which might help answer the following question: Is there anything special about island languages?

The Exploring Island Languages Workshop will appropriately take place in the research island of Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University.

Organizers

Associate Professor Joshua Nash (AIAS COFUND Fellow) in collaboration with Associate Professor Peter Bakker (Linguistics, Aarhus University).

Contact

Joshua Nash, joshuanash@aias.au.dk