Studying dialectal contact offers linguists an opportunity to critically examine some of our most basic assumptions about language. In particular, careful consideration of geographically constrained patterns of linguistic variation highlights the limitations of named language varieties as tools for linguistic inquiry. Ultimately, the locus of contact is not to be found in the interaction of such abstractions, but rather in the individual minds of those who live in contact communities. The present paper highlights these issues through a discussion of Spanish dialectal contact in the U.S., with a special emphasis on the variable social salience of regionally differentiated features. Work reviewed here is consistent with previous research that finds the relative salience of features to be a key determinant of their trajectory in situations of contact. Change in the use of high salience features is likely to be the result of direct accommodation between speakers, while change in low salience features is likely to arise by other, indirect mechanisms. The role of salience in shaping the outcomes of contact reinforces its inherently social nature, reminding us that what we hope to understand are not the results of dialects in contact, but rather, those of people in contact.

中文翻译：

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语言命名限制和社会显着性在方言接触中的作用：以美国的西班牙为例

研究方言的联系为语言学家提供了一个机会，可以严格地检查我们有关语言的一些最基本的假设。特别是，仔细考虑语言变异在地理上受限制的模式，凸显了命名语言变体作为语言探究工具的局限性。最终，联系的地点不是在这种抽象的相互作用中找到的，而是在生活在联系社区中的人们的个人思想中。本文通过讨论美国的西班牙方言联系来突出这些问题，并特别强调区域差异特征的可变社会显着性。这里回顾的工作与先前的研究一致，后者发现特征的相对显着性是接触情况下其轨迹的关键决定因素。高显着性特征的使用变化很可能是说话人之间直接适应的结果，而其他其他间接机制很可能会引起低显着性特征的变化。显着性在塑造联系结果中的作用加强了其固有的社会性质，提醒我们我们希望了解的不是联系方言的结果，而是联系方的结果。