Ask-A-Linguist Message Details
| Subject: | Effect of seperation of people group on a common spoken languge |
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| Question: |
I wanted to know if it would, at all, fit into a possible scenario, that two groups of people could be separated completely for a few hundred years and still understand each other. I'm not looking for a definite yes or no, but I would like to know if it is plausible if they spent a much longer time together before separation. |
| Reply: |
Would this be for something like writing a believable science fiction story? In real life, communities that separate do not totally lose contact. So we don't have good historical evidence. If you look at things like the separation between (modern) French and (modern) Italian, or between (modern) Dutch and (modern) English, it looks as if, after 2000 years or so, commmnunication might be hard, but isn't impossible, with a bit of negotiation. In an imaginary situation, where there was no contact at all, I think you could think that after a millenium communication might be hard if the two communities met up again. I can't imagine there would be much problem at all after 3 centuries. Anthea |
| Reply From: | Anthea Fraser Gupta click here to access email |
| Date: | 04-Oct-2012 |
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