predictions about language convergence do not align with reality, such as areas with high inter-ethnic contact but low levels of convergence. Results Language convergence often results in the increased frequency of preexisting patterns in a language; if one feature is present in two languages in contact, convergence results in increased use and cross-linguistic similarity of the parallel feature. As contact situations leading to language convergence lack defined substrate and superstrate languages, the outcomes of convergence often resemble structures found in all the languages involved without perfectly replicating any one pattern. Language convergence is most apparent in phonetics, with the phonological systems of the languages in contact gradually coming to resemble one another. In some cases, the results of phonological convergence may be limited to a few phonemes, while in other linguistic areas phonological convergence can result in widespread changes that affect the entire phonological system, such as the development of phonemic tone distinctions. In contrast to the limited effects of lexical borrowing, phonetic, syntactic, or morphological convergence can have greater consequences, as converging patterns can influence an entire system rather than only a handful of lexical items. Difficulties When studying convergence, linguists take care to distinguish between features inherited from a language's proto-language, internally motivated changes, and diffusion from an outside source; in order to argue for language convergence, linguists try to argue for both an outside source and the mechanism that precipitated the change. The more drastic effects of language convergence, such as significant syntactic convergence and mixed languages, lead some linguists to question the validity of traditional historical linguistic methods. Because of these far-reaching effects, other linguists are hesitant to accept convergence explanations for similar features and argue that often another explanation better represents changes that might otherwise attributed to language convergence. Examples Balkans Sprachbund: Contact between AD 800 and AD 1700 led to changes in phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon of Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Greek. The Balkans Sprachbund is an extreme case of language convergence. Arnhem Land, Australia: Morphosyntactic convergence and massive lexical diffusion in the Yuulgnu languages Ritharngnu, Dhayʔyi, and others and the “Prefixing” languages Ngandi, Nunggubuyu, and others, though long periods of separation helped to preserve language boundaries. Spanish and Quechua: Phonological convergence of the palatal /ʎ/ in Spanish and Quechua. Northern variants of Ecuadorian Spanish and Quechua include the innovative [ʒ] while southern variants of both languages maintain the [ʎ] pronunciation. Chinese, Thai,