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The hybridization of languages in early modern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2006

PETER BURKE
Affiliation:
Emmanuel College, St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge CB2 3AP, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This article argues that European vernaculars were in closer contact with one another and with languages spoken outside Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries than they had been in the Middle Ages, when Latin dominated written communication. Increased contact led to borrowing, mixing and hybridization, some of it highly self-conscious (as in the case of ‘macaronic’ poetry and drama). Mixing in turn led to a ‘purist’ reaction, first in the case of Latin and then in the case of vernaculars such as Italian, French, German, Dutch and even – to a lesser extent – English.

Type
Focus
Copyright
Academia Europaea 2006

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