Mixed languages: Patterns of lexification of the сore vocabulary

This paper is an analysis of mixed languages in terms of the sources of lexicalization of their core vocabulary. Data from the following mixed languages are considered: Michif, Medny Aleut, Media Lengua and Gurindji Kriol. Previous studies devoted to the typology of mixed languages from the combined perspective of structure and lexicon are also examined [Bakker 2017: 218], [Meakins 2018: 6], [Muysken 2008: 211]. This paper focuses on the core lexicon alone. First, I consider claims concerning the whole vocabulary of mixed languages. Next, using Swadesh 100 and 207 word lists as the basis of comparison, I examine to what extent the generalizations about the lexicon of the mixed languages also apply to the core lexicon. I present the patterns of the lexification of the сore vocabulary and conclude that the observations about lexification of mixed languages also hold for their core lexicons. The comparison leads to some findings with respect to lexical doublets (i.e., two lexical items from different lexifier languages corresponding to one concept in the core vocabulary), with more lexically mixed languages showing a higher number of doublets. I conclude that focusing on the core vocabulary does not resolve the problematic status of mixed languages in terms of the conventional historical comparative analysis. Additionally, this paper presents and tests the synchronic hypothesis attributing the number of doublets to the “more mixed nature” of one mixed language. In other words, there is a direct correlation between the quantity of doublets and the relevant language’s lexis in terms of even distribution between the lexifier languages. The more a language is “mixed”, the more doublets it has.