Through this question we wish to gain an understanding of the array of languages in use within a given social domain, beyond the two languages of interest. We are aware that the analysis of contact situation through the sets we propose has limitations. For instance, contact influence on the Focus Group languages may come from other languages than those selected as Neighbour Group languages in a given set. This question asked so that we can have some awareness of what other languages may have influenced the Focus Group language.
The northwestern Cameroonian region of Lower Fungom shows very high degrees of linguistic diversity. As many as seven languages are associated with the thirteen villages recognised for the area, and speakers’ linguistic repertoires are considerably fluid (Di Carlo & Good 2014; Di Carlo et al. 2019). In this situation, there are a large number of other languages that could be of consequence for the structures of the Focus Group language. The same applies to the highly multilingual regions of Northern Australia, such as the Warruwi Community (Singer 2018), and to the Vaupés in Northern Amazonia (Epps 2018).
Even beyond small-scale multilingual settings, contact between pairs of unrelated languages may additionally feature the use of lingua francas and languages of wider communication, as is currently the case of English for many parts of the world.