Sociolinguistique hispanique (VIIIè - XIè siècles)

Hispanic Sociolinguistics (VIIIth-XIth Centuries) - This article traces the changes that took place in the sociolinguistics of the Iberian Peninsula between 700 and 1100 A.D. In 700, apart from the Basques, the Peninsula was monolingually Early-Roman speaking. The relationship between Romance, Arabic, Berber languages and Hebrew in Al-Andalus are outlined, as the society gradually became generally bilingual (Arabic-Romance), with three alphabets (Arabic, Roman, Hebrew) and varying patterns of literacy (from mostly Roman/Latin to mostly Arabic). Mozarabic Romance was probably not distinguished then from Spanish Romance in general for Visigothic culture continued to the north of the religious divide as well. The pattern of Early Romance evolution is allied to the continuing attempts to write in the traditional way, with old-fashioned morphology and sometimes also old-fashioned syntax. The manuscript of the earliest Romance glosses (eleventh century) also included the first attempts at writing Basque. Catalonia saw the arrival in the Peninsula of some Frankish linguistic habits, including the separately-conceived form of language we now call Medieval Latin. The sociolinguistic picture changed sharply at the end of this period, with the Christian capture of Toledo and the Europeanization of Spanish Christian culture.Sociolinguistique hispanique (VIIIè - XIè siècles). In: Médiévales, n°25, 1993. La voix et l'écriture, sous la direction de Michel Banniard . pp. 61-70