Re: [tied] Re: Changes in Old Irish and Christianity

----- Original Message -----
From: "CG" <sonno3@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2004 8:24 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Changes in Old Irish and Christianity


> Mate wrote:
> > I have been reading Dixon's The Rise and Fall of Languages and
> > among many interesting things I found there a claim that the rapid
> > language change in Old Irish in the period between 400 and 600 AD
> > is directly connected with the introduction of Christianity into
> > Ireland. Dixon assumes there was a breakdown of communication
> > between generations (or classes) as younger people adopted the new
> > religion and older ones rejected it.
> > Any thoughts?
>
> I don't think that this is very likely - and there is no evidence
> for the adoption of Christianity falling along generational lines,
> AFAIK.

OK, but I don't think this was Dixon's main point. Introduction of a new
(agressive?) religion causes the punctuation of the former linguistic
equlibrium in Ireland and that is the cause of the rapid language change.
The idea is that introducing the new religion itself is a process that
causes a deep stir in a society and likewise, in this case, in the language.
In the context of the whole theory of the punctuated equilibrium it doesn't
sound so ad hoc...

Mate