Despite the fact that situations of contact between languages that are small in scale and relatively equal in prestige are common worldwide, this kind of scenario is greatly underrepresented in research. Joanne Yager’s research works to overcome some of the methodological challenges associated with the study of language contact and multilingualism in small-scale settings and highlights the value of research in lesser-known linguistic settings for advancing our theories of multilingualism and language contact.

The four studies of the thesis provide the first linguistic description of the newly discovered Aslian (Austroasiatic) language variety Jedek, and investigate the lexical and semantic outcomes of language contact and multilingualism in egalitarian foragers speaking the closely-related language varieties Jedek and Jahai.