multilingua 16 4 1997 multilingua journal cross cultural interlanguage communication volume 16 4 1997 mouton de gruyter berlin new york special issue language contact trade late middle ages middle low german north european languages edited laura wright ernst hakon jahr mouton de gruyter berlin new york laura wright ernst hakon jahr preface james milroy internal vs external motivations linguistic change ernst hakon jahr new perspectives language contact middle low german mainland scandinavian late middle ages footnote mixed languages gave rise detective story laura wright records hanseatic merchants lgnorant sleepy degenerate harry c b perridon definite article jutlandic borrowing low german kurt braunmueller communication strategies area hanseatic league approach semicommunication rolf h bremmer jr bad frisian bad low german interference writings medieval west frisian muriel norde middle low german middle scandinavian language contact morphological simplification book reviews announcements publications received contents volume 16 1997 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mouton de gruyter walter de gruyter inc postfach 30 34 21 200 saw mill river road d10728 berlin hawthorne ny 10532 germany usa fax 49 0 30 26005351 fax 1 914 7471326 email mouton degruyter de publications de gruyter also ordered via world wide web http www degruyter de