The hybridization of languages in early modern Europe

Peter Burke

European Review, 2006, vol. 14, issue 1, 105-110

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.

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:eurrev:v:14:y:2006:i:01:p:105-110_00

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in European Review from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().