Vernacular Languages - Assignment Example

Vernacular Languages Abstract Vernacular, also known as mother tongue, may be defined as a native dialect or native language used by a particular population, in opposition to written or formal language of broader communication considered as foreign, literary, cultured or second language to that population. It may also be termed as the Romance language, which derived from Vulgar Latin between the sixth and ninth centuries. Prior to the 12th century, the Latin language dominated the Western world and North Africa, thanks to the expansion of the Roman Empire. In the same way, its use began diminishing with the onset of the fall of the Roman Empire, sparking off ethnical and cultural revivals, including use of vernacular languages. Vernacular Languages Introduction Since Latin came from the Romans, it was the prevalent vernacular roughly up to the 14th century by the civilized world, owing to the fact that the Romans had conquered majority of European territories and land. It was used by the upper crust of society and church leaders of the time. It was a symbol of wealth, breeding and power (Bex & Watts, 1999). To ensure its longevity, dignified women were the ones who commissioned pieces of poetry, literature and music into Latin. Businessmen travelled to faraway ports but communicated flawlessly in Latin for trade purposes. However, religious sects encountered problems when majority natives, who did not belong to the rich and affluent, opposed conversion into Roman Catholicism (Talal, 2003). Vernacular languages of such territories gradually took over Latin. This paper will research on how vernaculars came into being, their spread and impact on cultures during that period. Origins and Spread of Vernacular Language Latin was spoken originally by a small group of settlers in the west of Italy (Bex & Watts, 1999). It later grew to become the language spoken in the ancient Roman Empire. Its popularity grew further with the growth and expansion of the Roman Empire. Several languages were developed from Latin known as Romance languages, and were widespread in countries that had previously been conquests of the Roman Empire. The key Romance languages are Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, French and Italian (Dons, 2004). Latin itself had two forms which were classical Latin, and the vernacular Latin that was spoken locally. Classical Latin was common among the elites, educated and religious leaders while vernacular language was spoken among the common people. Romance languages were developed through centuries from the vernacular Latin’s dialects, also known as Vulgar Latin, and by the 14th century majority of western European populations were speaking either Romance language or Latin, most notably Spanish, French and Italian. Each Romance language had its own unique dialect spoken in various geographical areas, including a unique development history on writing style, vocabulary, phonology and grammar (Dons, 2004). When the Roman Empire weakened, Latin also began its fading journey (Brubaker, 2004). Alfred the great encouraged people to go back to the use of old English in England. In his reign, he wrote volumes of books including religious article in English. Examples of works done in English were the Anglo Saxton Chronicles as well as Beowulf (Brubaker, 2004). Among the pioneers of spreading works of art in the vernacular language were the French and by the 14th century, vernacular literature had spread all over Europe. Travelling members of the judiciary and entertainers in France adopted and spoke their native languages. Poems written in Romance were read by musicians and the travelling entertainers as they traversed the land. By the 18th century, Germans were already using their vernacular language (Brubaker, 2004). They translated the Romance language of the French into German way back in the 12th century. By the 15th century, most of Europe had adopted vernacular language as the medium for historical records, personal expression and literature. At the rate it was growing, standardization of vernacular language was inevitable. With most populations abandoning Latin, including the noble and elite, vernacular language became the only medium to spread Christianity, and it took over Latin (Sayre, 2013). Impact of the Spread of Vernacular Languages Cultures Among the impacts of spread of vernacular language was the spread of religion and literacy levels, which were further boosted by advances in technology (Talal, 2003). The desire to reach Christianity to wide populations can fit both factors of origin and spread of vernacular language. The monks were well educated in bible studied and science, and well versed in vernacular languages. They, therefore, created the alphabet upon which the Latin bible was translated into vernacular language. With Christian literature readily available in the vernacular, it was easy to convert populations into Christianity as well as spread it (Sayre, 2013). However, it is important to note that the shift of spread of religion from Latin to vernacular was not restricted to Christianity. The Byzantine Jews soon followed by using their vernacular Greek in religious literature, even though they based their translation on the Hebrew alphabet. This is a clear indication that even if standard vernacular languages brought together religious communities, what held together the broader communities was the common vernacular language (Bex & Watts, 1999). This is manifested in the way nations developed around the world even when the impacts of religion on individual communities wore out. A significant impact of vernacular language, therefore, is the way it builds and stabilizes a culture’s identity (Brubaker, 2004). Taking this point further, vernacular not only unites a culture but also gives emphasis to the differences that exist between different cultures. As schools were growing in numbers, there was still a bias against girls and boys from poor families. For the rich boys, Latin was still taught in schools. The few girls who made it to school did not learn the Latin grammar and most of its meaning (Brubaker, 2004). For them to take part in cultural debates, therefore, they had to be conducted in vernacular language. Inevitably, vernacular language became a tool of empowerment for women in the 15th century and gave them freedom of expression in an era where, culturally, they had been kept in the background (Talal, 2003). This had an added advantage of having more literate women in the society. With development of paper making techniques, writings by women were on the rise. Conclusion After Latin had seen its better days, by the 14th century most of Europe was speaking vernacular languages. Even if grammar and spelling were not yet fully standardized, there was enough literary tradition to see to it that standardization would eventually take place (Dons, 2004). With the abandoning of Latin, several possible outcomes were eminent. The first possibility could be decreasing numbers of literate people who would, by virtue of their literacy, maintain power over the majority illiterate. Another possibility would have been the inevitable learning by everyone to write and read Latin even with its nonexistent political influence. Thirdly, vernacular languages would be taken up, standardized and spread, later on becoming a means of spreading religion, uniting nations and forming governments (Brubaker, 2004). Evidently, the third possibility prevailed, and the greatest impact was the creation of nations. References Bex, T., & Watts, R. (1999). Standard English: The widening debate. New York: Routledge. Brubaker, R. (2004). Ethnicity without groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Dons, U. (2004). Descriptive adequacy of early modern English grammars. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Sayre, H. M. (2013). Discovering the humanities (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson. Talal, A. ( 2003). Formations of the secular: Christianity, Islam, modernity. California: Stanford University Press. Read More