Latin in Byzantium: Different forms of Linguistic Contact
Résumé
The linguistic Latinization of the East is a non-linear trend, characterised by continuities, interruptions, and role reversals, each of them representing a different combination of bilingual and diglossic phenomena, as well as different degrees of literacy in Latin as a first or second language. This chapter provides the reader with a preliminary clarification. It begins by outlining some incidents of ‘imperfect bilingualism’ in the East (§1). Then it examines and contextualises the following four, non-overlapping case-studies that represent distinct aspects of the above trend: Constantine’s linguistic 'nationalism' (§2), cases of multilingualism in Constantinople during the second half of the fourth century (§3), ‘dual-lingualism’ under Theodosius II (§4), and interlinguistic forms of communication under Justinian (§5). A final section touches on the problem of unilingualism in the subsequent period (§6).