Re: OT: Evolution of dialects (was Re: Tirelat and related dialects)

Den 24. sep. 2008 kl. 23.04 skreiv Jörg Rhiemeier:

> Indeed.  Rural dialects tend to be more conservative than
> urban ones, as Alex has said; however, if there is something
> like a standard language, it is the upper classes that tend
> to adhere most closely to it, and standard varieties are often
> oriented at a corpus of "classical" texts which are often in
> an older version of the language.  Thus, the urban upper
> classes may be just as conservative in their language habits
> as the countryside dwellers but for different reasons,
Actually they are much the same reasons. Country dwellers don't just
lag behind, they preserve their heritage actively just as the city
upper class do. This is true even with today's weakening of the
countryside societies in the western world, although with different
force in different countries, and just a few generations back, the
preservation activity was very forceful indeed.

LEF