Empires of the Word - Nicholas Ostler [350]
caused by settlement 22, 63-67, 141, 239, 347, 391-392, 399, 416, 492-495, 534-535, 557
caused by technical innovation 61-68, 326-328, 511-513, 540-541, 546, 548
Language spread (cont.)
caused by trade 21-22, 75-77, 98, 102-103, 160-162, 178, 274, 290-292, 387-388, 463, 478, 491, 497, 510-511, 513, 517-519, 536, 546
caused by religious conversion 21-22, 86-93, 179, 387-390, 499n, 501-502, 504, 520, 521, 536-537
mechanisms of:
migration: diffusion: infiltration 19, 85, 250
sweep-aside vs re-education 505-509
seaborne contacts 24, 199-202, 323, 325, 338-339, 538-539
obstacles to: 364-367, 400-401
Language structural type
as factor in language spread 23, 97, 552-557
Language survival (see also Imperial languages) 22-23, 444-446, 529
Langue d’oc 320n
Lao-zi, Chinese sage 150
Laos 204, 206, 417
script 202
Las Casas see De Las Casas
Latin 12, 20-22, 24n, 48, 53, 75, 76-78, 86, 92, 101n, 179, 520
breaks up into Romance languages 308-309
and the Britons 301-304, 517
and Celtic-speakers 295-301, 304
classification 277n
daughter languages (Romance) 329
decline/revival/death 260-261, 307, 309, 314, 315-321, 325-330, 526
and French 405-406
grammatica 316-321, 325, 476
Greek influence 250-254, 298-299
in North Africa 100, 307n
Punic bilingualism 307n
spread of 275, 490, 540
Vulgar 307
Vulgate bible 294
and Western Christianity 209
see also Romance languages
Latin America see Americas
Latvia 432-433, 443, 445
Le Morte d’Arthur (Malory) 332
Le Phénomène humain (Chardin) 403n
Lebanon 44, 70-71, 78, 128
Lee Kwan Yew, prime minister of Singapore 548
Leibniz, Baron Gottfried von, German philosopher 410
Lenape 483
Lengua general346, 356, 358, 360, 363-373, 375, 568n15
León 99
Leontopolis 151
Léopold, Belgian king 418
Lepontic 242, 284-285, 291
Lerdo Law 375
Levant Company 479
Leydekker, Melchior, translator of Bible into Malay 402
Lezgian 41
Liang Wudi, Chinese emperor 119
Liberia 508, 515
Libraries (Sumerian/Akkadian) 34, 49, 54; (Hittite) 41; (Punic) 75; (Sanskrit) 221n; (Greek) 248; (English in India) 499
Libya 78, 97, 119, 120
and Egypt 126-127, 164
Libyan 126-129, 149
Line of Raghu, The (Kālidāsa) 559
Lingala 419n
Lingua franca
origin of term 407n
various languages which took this role
Akkadian 42, 54, 62, 110, 129
Arabic 209, 547
Aramaic 34, 35, 79, 80-82
’Atlantic Celtic’ 290-292
Chinese 547
English 24, 457, 458, 503, 510, 513, 532, 545
Italian 407n
French 412, 532
Greek 20, 86, 164, 190, 299
Latin 265, 325
Malay 380, 532
Nahuatl 355
Pali 215
Persian 101, 497
Phoenician 546
Portuguese 387-388, 395, 497, 513
Russian 429, 443, 531
Sanskrit 179
Sogdian 108, 546
Swahili 105, 508, 533
Turkic 531, 547
deliberate establishment of lingua franca general 543, 558
Akkadian by Assyria 19, 44
Aramaic by Persia 47, 548
Greek by Alexander 48
Quechua by Incas 357-360
miscellaneous by Western powers 381
English by Singapore 548
unintentional establishment of lingua franca
Aramaic by Assyria 66 (contra: 562 n. 28)
Persian by Arabs 99
loss of role
Latin 328-330
retention of role
Nahuatl, Quechua 367
Guarani 376
English, Portuguese 513
Western imperial languages 444-446
Lingua geral393-395
Linguistic innovations
many in the Ancient Near East 29-35
cuneiform as ideographic standard 61-63, 512
syllabic writing 156
alphabetic writing 45-46, 63-68, 202-203, 241-242
printing 326-328, 346
electronic communications 511-513
Linguistics
origins of 156-157, 180-182, 209-212, 220, 224, 238n
reconstruction of past languages 31
Lisu 134
Literacy
providing evidence for language history 24
as supposed factor in language spread 63-64
Gaulish 284-288
in late Roman Empire 308
spread through Sanskrit 202
spread under Soviets 441-442
its value doubted 57,