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9 - The sociology of the Romance languages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2013

By
Alberto Varvaro
Edited by
Martin Maiden ,
John Charles Smith  and
Adam Ledgeway
John Charles Smith
Affiliation:
St Catherine's College, Oxford
Adam Ledgeway
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

The process of formation of the Romance languages from the end of the ancient world to the age of Charlemagne has fundamental sociolinguistic implications, regardless of the preferred line of theoretical explanation. The Romance vernacular side is less easy to investigate, and here it is evident that diatopic variation was accompanied by typically sociolinguistic differences of status. In the Romance world there are few remaining cases of a degree of socio-cultural homogeneity so great that there is no need for some diastratic variation. The interplay of sociolinguistic relations between Romance and non-Romance varieties, which the authors have occasionally alluded to, is no less varied and wide-ranging than what happens within Romance. This chapter mentions two aspects: the historical side, which implies shifts in the external linguistic boundaries of the Romance linguistic family and the coexistence, particularly in modern times, of different types of language in the same area.

Keywords

linguistic variationlogographic systembilingualismchronological discrepancyLatinRoman EmpireSchuchardt-Gröber hypothesisRomance languages
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages , pp. 335 - 360
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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