philipl@bronze.UUCP (Philip Lantz) (09/28/83)
Colvin mentioned that japanese may be "a fusion of a South Pacific language with an Altaic. The simple phonemes and many words seem South Pacific, but the grammer appears Altaic. This was explained in terms of an invasion of a South Pacific island by Altaic speakers." Since this seems to be different from the change in English after the Norman invasion, This caused me to wonder if there is some pattern to changes in languages caused by invasions. After the Norman invasion, English retained its grammar and simple words, and acquired a more advanced vocabulary from the language of the conquerors. In the case of Japanese, according to the theory, the grammar of the invaders seems to have "imposed" itself on the vocabulary of the natives. Does any one know of other specific examples of language change caused by invasion, and whether there may be some pattern as to what features of the native language are retained, and what features of the language of the conquering people are taken into the native language? Philip Lantz tekmdp!bronze!philipl