APHG
Oct 21, 2021
Why the Conquest Theory Best Theorized the Path of Language
Diffusion
Language comes from the Latin word "lingua," which means tongue. Many languages
commonly found today have evolved from those spoken thousands of years ago. Languages such
as English, Latin, French, and Hindi trace back to the Proto-Indo-European language family.
These languages diffused throughout the world and changed over time due to wars, migrations,
environmental changes, and other factors that molded and shaped cultures into how they are
remembered and presented today. With the help of language reconstruction, which employs the
use of sentence structure, grammar, and syntax, it is possible to reconstruct extinct languages.
Because of the discovery of so many languages, there are multiple theories on how they came to
be. While most theories provide strong evidence, I believe that the conquest theory establishes
the best argument. The conquest theory perfectly aligns with how the Indo-European family
diffused worldwide and came to be modernized languages such as Hindi or English.
Every language theory is feasible, though they are not applicable in every situation. The
Renfrew hypothesis claims that languages began in the Fertile Crescent and diffused outwards.
On the other hand, the dispersal hypothesis theorizes that Indo-European languages moved
eastward into Iran before traveling around the Caspian and Europe. Neither have many
real-world examples supporting them and cannot be proven entirely since the origins of
languages themselves are, for the time being, unknown. Other theories, however, such as the
conquest and agricultural theories, are more practical when looking at the type of diffusion. For
example, people were constantly migrating to England during the Middle Ages to escape issues
from their own countries, making Middle English more popular. Despite the possible reasonings
behind the agriculture theory, the migration of people into other countries (due to the various
push factors) would have choked out the languages of those immigrants rather than diffused
them, since they would have to learn or speak the language of the country they are migrating into
as to communicate with others. Thus, leaving the conquest theory.
The diffusion and changes in language lead to a lingua franca or a common language
shared by distinguished communities who do not share the same native language. Due to this
migration and conquest, the lingua franca could have constantly changed between countries and
cultures. Significant changes in political or economic power change the lingua franca. For
example, before English became the lingua franca of the world - due to the rising of the global
superpowers that are America and the E.U. - the lingua franca was French. This was because
Franca had reigned over much of Europe, and it was a global superpower at that time.
The diffusion of languages is also the reason behind some cultural traits or other
characteristics of a community. For example, slang or specific terms in any pop culture
enveloped by English can usually be traced back to German origins due to its Germanic history.
Specific terms sometimes used in pop culture, such as "flipped out" or "chill out," can be traced
back to German cognates such as "ausflippen" and "chillen," respectively.
Despite having such a good understanding of how languages form and relate to each
other, linguists are unsure how many are. The exact number of languages spoken today is under
constant debate, though the number tends to hover around 7,000. These languages came to be
through the different cultural traditions of people and the varying conditions of their cultural
hearths. Many languages have gone extinct, though linguists have been able to rebuild or
discover them through reconstruction, giving more insight into the origins of our tongues.
Language reconstruction uses phonetics, prefixes, syntax, and similar parts between languages to
reconstruct or find relationships. Linguists view this relationship between languages of similar
origin or relation through languages like English and German, which both came from the
Germanic subfamily. Language reconstruction also led to the discovery of proto-languages such
as the Indo-European language family. Languages such as Hittite, for example, have been
reconstructed accurately. Knowing the relationships between languages are essential, especially
when reconstructing languages. War and power drastically affect these relationships, particularly
when societies start competing for resources and land.
English, a language shaped by conquest, traces its roots back to various influences. The
Germanic tribes Anglos and Saxons took control of England in the 5th and 6th centuries, forming
the basis of Old English. Later, Viking invasions in the 700s blurred the lines between Old Norse
and Old English, leading to the incorporation of Norse words into English. In 1066, the
Normans, Viking descendants settled in France, brought further changes by conquering England
and introducing French as the language of royalty. This division between social classes led to
French influences on English, along with the reintroduction of Romance influences brought by
Roman priests.
Overall, the four major theories provide vastly different interpretations of the diffusion of
both language and the culture that comes with them, each having some truth behind them. Out of
two diffusion hypotheses, which claim that general migration alone is responsible for language
diffusion, and the agriculture theory, which claims that push factors like natural checks create a
migratory instinct for people to move, none of them have all that much evidence backing them
up. By far, the conquest theory has the most evidence supporting it, with prominent examples
such as Hindi and English, which is why I believe it to be responsible for the spread of language.
Citations:
● https://www.simonandsimon.co.uk/blog/english-the-history-of-the-worlds-lingua-franca
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Due to technical difficulties, I was not able to put this link in MLA format.
● Mufwene, Salikoko Sangol. "lingua franca". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 August 2010,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/lingua-franca. Accessed 30 October 2021.
● Ted-Ed How Did English Evolve? - Kate Gardoqui. YouTube, YouTube, 27 November
2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIzFz9T5rhI. Accessed 30 October 2021.