Editing Language contact (section)

=== Dialectal and sub-cultural change ===
Some forms of language contact affect only a particular segment of a speech community. Consequently, change may be manifested only in particular [[dialects]], [[jargon]]s, or [[speech register|registers]]. [[South African English]], for example, has been significantly affected by [[Afrikaans]] in terms of [[lexis (linguistics)|lexis]] and [[pronunciation]], but the other dialects of English have remained almost totally unaffected by Afrikaans other than a few loanwords.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

In some cases, a language develops an [[acrolect]] that contains elements of a more prestigious language. For example, in [[England]] during a large part of the [[Middle Ages]], upper-class speech was dramatically influenced by [[Norman language|Norman]] to the point that it often resembled a dialect.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

The broader study of contact varieties within a society is called [[linguistic ecology]].<ref>See, for example, Mufwene, Salikoko S. The ecology of language evolution. Cambridge University Press, 2001.</ref>