Extinction of Gallic Language (was: Indo-European Studies)

Gerold Firl (geroldf@sdd.hp.com)
12 Jul 1995 12:35:43 -0700

In article <3tjjve$oln@nexus.polaris.net> sept@polaris.net (S.D. Barnes) writes:

> Celtic_______Italic_________Hellenic_______Anatolian_______Hittite |
> | | | | | |
> Gaelic | Oscan Doric Tochrarian |
> Britannic | Umbrian Aeolic |
> Gallic | Latin Ionic Attic |
> | | | | |
>(various | (Romance Greek (from |
>forms of | language Ionic Attic) |
>Irish, | branches |
>Scots, | French, |
>and | Spanish, |
>Welsh) | etc.) Balto-Slavic___Armenian___Albanian___Indo-Iranian
> | | |
> | | |
> Germanic Baltic________Slavic Iranic____________Indic
> | | | | |
> West___North___East Old Prussian | Avestan____O.Iranian |
> | | | Lettish | | |
>English Danish Gothic Lithuanian | Persian Vedic
>German Norweg. Vandal | |
>and and Burgund. | |
>others others | *SANSKRIT*

Nice graph!

I am wondering about the extinction of the gallic language. Any ideas on
why it disappeared? I find it hard to believe that large numbers of
latin-speaking settlers moved to gaul during the roman occupation, relative
to the celtic population which lived there before, yet by 400 ad, celtic
appears to have already been supplanted by latin. Why?

The german conquest of modern france does not appear to have left a
significant linguistic impact on french; why was gallic given-up for latin,
but latin retained when german became the language of the ruling class?

Welsh, scots, and irish have hung-on to a precarious existance, but they
appear destined to also disappear as a living language. I once read a
prediction that dutch would soon go the same route, subsumed into the
english-speaking world. Any thoughts on the evolutionary pathways of
language, why some survive and some go extinct?

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