Re: Diglossia (was Re: New to the List, too)

>From: Boudewijn Rempt <bsarempt@...>
>Reply-To: Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
>To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
>Subject: Re: Diglossia (was Re: New to the List, too)
>Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 22:56:28 +0200
>
>On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> > Speaking of which, has anyone created a conlang with diglossia?
>
>Not exactly, the actual linguistic situation in Charya is a bit
>more complex. Civilized people (i.e. court officials and civil
>servants) need to be able to balance five or six languages, and
>can drop from one into another whenever the conversation demands.
>
>There's Denden for general communication, one's own dialect, Classical
>Charyan, Archaic Charyan, Old Charyan and the Broyan stage language.
>And there might be the need to be able to communicate in several
>foreign languages... Or more than one dialect.
I don't know where this falls, since Early Lahabic (EL) and Classical Laabic
(CL) are closely related, but the CL-speaking Dhabra of the Island will use
the Lahabic forms in formal situations (the CL travel guide phrases will
show this, as does the name of the language stage). EL is the language of
the 'official' religion and therefore familiar to all in few phrases. The
monarch, of course, is fluent in both, as both a political and spiritual
head.
What confuses this relatively simple scenario is the semantic
differentiation between dialects ('hunt', 'fish', and 'meditate' from the
root kyeeb-) and the opposite, identical forms in EL and CL, of which there
are many. The Phaaleinnalee Gwuunuuondelee (Townspeech), with the court
present, is the most heavily infused diglossic population, but their version
is riddled with pseudo-EL etymologies of CL, Classical Maradic, Nadanic, and
even some naturalized Woeunic terms. The 'monks' of the Birthvale, on the
other hand, refuse to speak anything other than EL unless absolutely
necessary.
well-preserved. The two confusing factors are the

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