ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we examined sociolinguistic approaches to language change and found that the processes of change are typically much more complex and variable than we had earlier been inclined to assume. In this chapter we will be looking in more depth at large-scale processes which can have profound consequences for the historical development of languages, and even for their very existence. Unlike many of the features covered by this book, what we will be discussing here concerns human interventions in language use which are at least sometimes conscious.
