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Substratum
In contact linguistics, a '''substratum''' (Latin|lat. ''sub'': ''under'' + ''stratum'': ''layer'' → ''lower layer'') is a language that influences another one while that second, intrusive, language supplants it. Similarly, a '''superstratum''' is an intrusive language that exerts influence on another language. An '''adstratum''' refers to a language that is in contact with another language in a neighbour population without having identifiably higher or lower prestige.
Thus, both terms refer to a situation where an intrusive language establishes itself in the territory of another, typically as the result of migration. Whether the superstratum (the local language persists and the intrusive language disappears) or the substratum (the local language disappears and the intrusive language persists) case applies will normally only be evident after several generations , during which the intrusive language exists within a diaspora culture. In order for the intrusive language to persist (''substratum'' case), the immigrant population will either need to take the position of a political elite or immigrate in significant numbers relative to the local population. (i.e. the intrusion qualifies as an invasion or colonisation, an example would be the Roman Empire giving rise to Romance languages outside of Italy, displacing Gaulish)
The ''superstratum'' case refers to elite populations which eventually adopt the local language (an example would be the Burgundians and Franks in France, who eventually abandoned their Germanic dialects in favor of Romance).
Substratum
The term is also used of substrate interference, i.e. the influence the substratum language exerts on the supplanting language. According to some classifications, this is one of three main types of language transfer|linguistic interference: substratum interference differs from both adstratum, which involves no language replacement but rather mutual borrowing between languages of roughly equal prestige, and superstratum, which refers to the influence a socially dominating language has on another, receding language that might eventually be relegated to the status of a substratum language.
In a typical case of substrate interference, a language A occupies a given territory and another language B arrives in the same territory (brought, for example, with migrations of population). Language B then begins to supplant language A: the speakers of language A abandon their own language in favour of B, generally because they believe that it is in their best (e.g. economic, political, cultural, social) interests to do so. During the language shift, however, the receding language A still influences language B (for example, through the transfer of loanwords, place names, or grammatical patterns from A to B).
For example, Gaulish language|Gaulish is a substratum of French language|French. The Gauls, a Celts|Celtic people, lived in the current French-speaking territory before the arrival of the Roman empire|Romans. Given the cultural, economic and political prestige which Latin enjoyed, the Gauls eventually abandoned their language in favour of Latin, which evolved in this region until eventually it took the form of Modern French. The Gaulish speech disappeared, but it remains detectable in some French words (approximately ninety) as well as place-names of Gaulish origin.
Another example is the influence of the now extinct North Germanic Norn language on the Scots language|Scots dialects of the Shetland Islands|Shetland and Orkney Islands|Orkney islands.
Linguistic substrata may be difficult to detect, especially if the substrate language and its nearest relatives are extinct. For example, the earliest form of the Germanic languages may have Germanic substrate hypothesis|been influenced by a non-Indo-European language, purportedly the source of about one quarter of the most ancient Germanic word-stock. There are similar arguments for a Substrate in Vedic Sanskrit|Sanskrit subtstrate, and a Pre-Greek substrate|Greek one.
Typically, Creole languages have multiple substrata, with the actual influence of such languages being indeterminate.
Superstratum
In linguistics, a '''superstratum''' or '''superstrate''' is the counterpart to a substratum. When one language succeeds another, the former is termed the superstratum and the latter the substratum. In the case of French language|French, for example, Vulgar Latin is the superstrate and Gaulish language|Gaulic is the substrate.
It is also used to describe an imposed linguistic element, akin to what English language|English underwent after 1066 with Norman language|Norman. The Neo-Latin and Neo-Greek coinages adopted by European languages (and now, languages worldwide) to describe scientific topics (anatomy, medicine, botany, zoology, all the '-ology' words, etc.) can also be termed a superstratum, although for this last, adstratum would be a better choice.
The term '''adstratum''' refers to a language which is equal in prestige to another. Generally the term is used only when speaking about languages in a particular country or geopolitical region. For example, early in England's history, English language|English and Old Norse language|Norse had an adstratal relationship.
The phenomenon is relatively rare today, since modern nations generally have only one dominant language (often corresponding to the dialect of the capital). In India, where dozens of languages are widespread, many could be said to share an adstratal relationship, although Hindi is certainly dominant in North India. A more accurate example would be the situation in Belgium, where the French language|French and Dutch language|Dutch languages have roughly the same status, and could justifiably be called adstrates.
Several theories infer an Altaic superstratum in the phylogenetic make-up of the languages of South-East Asia. For instance, a prevailing view among linguists contend that Japanese language|Japanese consists of a Altaic languages|Altaic superstratum projected onto an Austronesian language|Austronesian substratum.[Benedict (1990), Lewin (1976), Matsumoto (1975), Miller (1967), Murayama (1976), Shibatani (1990).] Similarly, the Chinese language of Northern China is alleged to have undergone Altaicization to different degrees.[Hashimoto (1986), Janhunen (1996).]
Adstratum
The term '''adstratum''' is also used to identify systematic influences or a layer of borrowings in a given language from another language where the two languages coexist as separate entities. Many modern languages have an appreciable adstratum from English. The Neo-Latin and Neo-Greek coinages adopted by European languages (and now, languages worldwide) to describe scientific topics (anatomy, medicine, botany, zoology, all the '-ology' words, etc.) can also justifiably be called adstrata.
Notable examples of substrate inference
References
- Benedict, Paul K. (1990). ''Japanese/Austro-Tai''. Ann Arbor: Karoma.
- Hashimoto, Mantaro J. (1986). ""The Altaicization of Northern Chinese." ''Contributions to Sino-Tibetan studies, eds John McCoy & Timoty Light, 76-97. Leiden: Brill.
- Janhunen, Juha (1996). ''Manchuria: An Ethnic History''. Helsinki: Finno-Ugrian Society.
- Jungemann, Frédéric H. (1955). ''La teoría del substrato y los dialectos hispano-romances y gascones''. Madrid.
- Lewin, Bruno (1976). "Japanese and Korean: The Problems and History of a Linguistic Comparison." ''Journal of Japanese Studies'' 2:2.389-412
- Matsumoto, Katsumi (1975). "Kodai nihongoboin soshikikõ: naiteki saiken no kokoromi." ''Bulletin of the Faculty of Law and Letters'' (Kanazawa University) 22.83-152.
- Miller, Roy Andrew (1967). ''The Japanese language''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Murayama, Shichiro (1976). "The Malayo-Polynesian Component in the Japanese Language." ''Journal of Japanese Studies'' 2:2.413-436
- Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). ''The languages of Japan''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
- Singler, John Victor (19830. "The influence of African languages on pidgins and creoles." ''Current Approaches to African Linguistics (vol.2)'', ed. by J. Kaye ''et al.'', 65-77. Dordrecht.
- Singler, John Victor (1988). "The homogeneity of the substrate as a factor in pidgin/creole genesis." ''Language'' 64.27-51.
- Voivin, Alexander (1994). "Long-distance relationships, recontruction methodology and the origins of Japanese." ''Diachronica 11:1.95-114.
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See also
- Adstratum
- Language shift
- Language transfer
- Cultural diffusion
- Kulturkugel
- Pre-Greek substrate
- Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni
- Substrate in Vedic Sanskrit
- Germanic substrate hypothesis
Category:Sociolinguistics
Category:Historical linguistics
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