Substratum

In linguistics, a substratum (lat. sub: under + stratum: layer => lower layer) is a language which influences another one while that second language supplants it. It is one of three possible types of linguistic interference.

Related Topics:
Linguistics - Lat. - Language - Linguistic interference

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A language, "A", occupies a given territory. A language, "B" (brought, for example, with migrations of population) arrives in the territory. It makes contact, and then interferes with language A. Language B is going to supplant language A: the speakers of language A abandon their own language in favour of that of population B, generally because they believe that it is in their best interests (economic, political, cultural, social). Nevertheless, language A influences language B, even if only because the speakers retain certain features characteristic of their former language.

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For example, Gaulish is a substratum of French. A Celtic people, the Gauls, lived in the current French-speaking territory before the arrival of the Romans. Given the cultural, economic and political prestige which Latin enjoyed, the Gauls eventually abandoned their language in favour of Latin, which evolved in this region until eventually it took the form of Modern French. The Gaulish speech disappeared, but it remains detectable in some French words (approximately ninety).

Related Topics:
Gaulish - French - Celtic people - Gauls - Romans - Latin

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Linguistic substrata are often difficult to detect, especially when the substratum language and its nearest relatives are extinct. There are many controversial theories related to linguistic substrata. For instance, some linguists contend that Japanese consists of a Sinitic superstrate projected onto an Altaic or Austronesian substrate, or alternatively that it consists of a Korean superstrate projected onto an indigenous isolated substrate.

Related Topics:
Japanese - Sinitic - Superstrate - Altaic - Austronesian - Korean - Isolated

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To be a substrate (and not an adstratum or a superstratum), the influence on the receiving language needs to have been substantial, something considerably more than just some borrowings or the result of a common sprachbund (an adstratum), or not the result of the dominance another language generates (a superstratum).

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When the influence of another language is too remote in the past for its influence the surviving language to be adequately characterized, 'substrate' is used by default, though the situation might have really been that of an adstratum or even a superstratum. With Japanese, even 'adstrate' is probably too narrow a term to adequately describe the situation.

Related Topics:
Adstratum - Superstratum

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It is clear the earliest form of the Germanic languages were influenced by a non-Indo-European language, representing the source of about one-quarter of the most ancient Germanic word-stock. See, Germanic substrate hypothesis, but the exact details of the situation are controversial.

Related Topics:
Germanic languages - Germanic substrate hypothesis

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The word also has some other uses, refering to something underlying, something supporting. In horticulture: materials allowing the binding of roots of a plant.

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