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Caucasian languages and language contact in terms of religions

Toyota, Junichi LU (2008) Caucasus studies: migration, society, language
Abstract
From a historical view point, one of the most striking features in the Caucasian languages is the preservation of archaic linguistic structures, often represented by the active alignment. These languages might have had contact with non-Caucasian languages but the contact-induced changes may not be as obvious as those in other languages in Europe. In this paper, it is argued that the preservation of older linguistic structure is somehow related to religion, or more precisely, religious reformation. The majority of IE languages have changed dramatically after the Renaissance period and Church reformation. The Orthodox and Sunni Muslims are two main religions in the Caucasus region, but they have not gone through a major reformation as in the... (More)
From a historical view point, one of the most striking features in the Caucasian languages is the preservation of archaic linguistic structures, often represented by the active alignment. These languages might have had contact with non-Caucasian languages but the contact-induced changes may not be as obvious as those in other languages in Europe. In this paper, it is argued that the preservation of older linguistic structure is somehow related to religion, or more precisely, religious reformation. The majority of IE languages have changed dramatically after the Renaissance period and Church reformation. The Orthodox and Sunni Muslims are two main religions in the Caucasus region, but they have not gone through a major reformation as in the Catholic and Protestant Churches. This can be a reason for the current status of the Caucasian languages. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
conference name
Caucasus studies: migration, society, language
conference location
Malmö, Sweden
conference dates
2008-11-28 - 2008-11-30
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
23e6fb7b-ca00-46ac-9db6-3bf87067bca1 (old id 1369328)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:48:14
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:16:24
@misc{23e6fb7b-ca00-46ac-9db6-3bf87067bca1,
  abstract     = {{From a historical view point, one of the most striking features in the Caucasian languages is the preservation of archaic linguistic structures, often represented by the active alignment. These languages might have had contact with non-Caucasian languages but the contact-induced changes may not be as obvious as those in other languages in Europe. In this paper, it is argued that the preservation of older linguistic structure is somehow related to religion, or more precisely, religious reformation. The majority of IE languages have changed dramatically after the Renaissance period and Church reformation. The Orthodox and Sunni Muslims are two main religions in the Caucasus region, but they have not gone through a major reformation as in the Catholic and Protestant Churches. This can be a reason for the current status of the Caucasian languages.}},
  author       = {{Toyota, Junichi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Caucasian languages and language contact in terms of religions}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}