Brill’s New Pauly

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Language switching
(452 words)

[German version]

Language switching (LS) can occur on a social as well as on an individual level. In the first case, a demographic or functional minority gives up its language after a period of bilingualism, and adopts the language of the majority. Not the extinction of speakers, but LS is the most common cause of language death ( Language change and dialectal compensation are not considered LS). Typical attendant phenomena are interferences with the dominant language, non-adapted loan words, dismissal of native names (as visible, for example, in Etrusc…

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Binder, Vera (Gießen), “Language switching”, in: Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1120100>
First published online: 2006
First print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510



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