Language Attitudes and Social Connotations in Jerome and Sidonius Apollinaris

Jerome of Stridon and Sidonius Apollinaris, two authors particularly sensitive to languages and linguistic differences, frequently evaluate the correctness, adequacy, and aesthetic qualities of ‘classical’ Latin on the one hand, and of ‘foreign’ or ‘barbarian’ languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, or ‘Germani...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Denecker, Tim 1989- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2015
In: Vigiliae Christianae
Year: 2015, Volume: 69, Issue: 4, Pages: 393-421
IxTheo Classification:CD Christianity and Culture
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
ZB Sociology
Further subjects:B Jerome Sidonius Apollinaris linguistic value judgments language attitudes social connotations hypothesis
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Summary:Jerome of Stridon and Sidonius Apollinaris, two authors particularly sensitive to languages and linguistic differences, frequently evaluate the correctness, adequacy, and aesthetic qualities of ‘classical’ Latin on the one hand, and of ‘foreign’ or ‘barbarian’ languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, or ‘Germanic’) on the other. They also evaluate variation within the Latin language, mostly in a negative way. In this paper, I look at Jerome’s and Sidonius’ evaluative statements about languages and language varieties from the sociolinguistic perspective of language attitude research. I start by defining the concepts of ‘language attitude’ and ‘social connotations hypothesis’, and then proceed to the analysis of linguistic evaluations in Jerome’s and Sidonius’ works. In accordance with the social connotations hypothesis, I argue that these evaluations about languages or language varieties are strongly biased by the socio-cultural stereotypes the authors hold about the speakers of these languages or language varieties.
ISSN:1570-0720
Contains:In: Vigiliae Christianae
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12341228