This chapter studies the way language policies are interpreted, with particular reference to the concepts of scale and recontextualisation. The focus of the chapter is on the relationship between policy meaning and power, with the main argument being that different layers of power are what drives the way language policies are interpreted in different contexts. This is illustrated with a discussion of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a policy text which has seen worldwide uptake. I examine how the document is ‘read’ in different contexts, considering the local and global layers of power that lurk beneath these readings.

The book concludes with a brief discussion of a number of the themes covered in the book, in particular, multilingualism. The chapter points out that linguistic contact is likely to be more central to the processes of language change than has been assumed by many specialists.

This chapter introduces readers to the processes underlying language ontact and how these relate to both personal and group multilingualism. Concepts such as superstratal, adstratal and substratal directions of contact are considered, as are the levels of influence put forward by Thomason and the integration process put forward by Winford. Interpretations of borrowing and interference are aired. A case study of Estonian Halbdeutsch is used to exemplify and test many of these ideas.

The central idea of this chapter is koineisation, the process by which discrete varieties tend to form into a new compromise variety when speakers of these varieties find themelves living side by side. Dialect levelling and new dialect formation are central forces in the process. The case study considers what happens when closely related but discrete language varieties come together in new circumstances. Primary focus is given to contact between Scandinavian varieties and Low German in the late medieval and early modern periods and between Old English and Viking Norse in northern England in the early medieval period.

This chapter considers semi-creoles, varieties which share features with creoles (and pidgins) but appear to be more like ‘mainstream’ varieties of the lexifier language than either of these states. The view is taken that all of these states and their backgrounds can be seen more as being points on a large-scale continuum. The case study considers potential histories for African American Vernacular English.

This chapter considers what effects language death (otherwise, language shift) might have upon language change, both in the language which is losing speakers and in those which are gaining them. Theory is tested against experience. The largely psycholinguistic concept of language attrition is introduced as a means of demonstrating how individual speakers might ‘lose’ their language over time. Potential differences in terms of survival and effect between immigrant and autochthonous languages are discussed. Effects of dominant language on dominated, and vice versa, are also analysed. The case study, on Shetland Norn, illustrates a number of the issues considered.

This chapter discusses and exemplifies the nature and devlopment of pidgins and creoles. Placed in social and historical context, a range of varieties, contemporary and historical, are discussed. Competing theories on the development of these varieties -- as well as whether they are closely connected to each other -- are addressed. Bickerton’s idea of the language bioprogram hypothesis is critiqued, while the most potent and popular contemporary views on how creoles developed -- creole exceptionalism and uniformitarianism -- are compared and analysed. The case study considers the linguistic history and present nature of the creoles of Suriname, with particular emphasis on Sranan.

This chapter discusses and analyses the nature of convergence between languages which are either not closely related or entirely unrelated. Attention is given to the processes involved in linguistic convergence, with particular attention being given to the nature of linguistic areas. The question is asked, to what extent can the post-Darwinian language family tree model of descent and relationship, which works well for Indo-European, be applied to other proposed language families? The case study focusses on the potential for western and central Europe being a linguistic area.