THE TONGUE THAT TURNED

Why Greek survived while Latin and Sanskrit declined

- M.J. WARSI

Language is a means of communication as well as a vehicle for culture, history and identity. The histories of Latin, Sanskrit and Greek show how languages can develop along divergent paths. Latin and Sanskrit are largely marginalised as spoken languages today, despite their immense historical significance, whereas Greek has survived and is still growing. Language use, political patronage, cultural relevance and passage to next generations are some of the variables that determine whether a language is considered living or dead.

Latin expanded throughout the Roman empire and was widely used throughout Europe. It was used in administration, everyday speech and literature. Latin, however, fragmented into many regional dialects with the fall of the Western Roman empire, and these dialects eventually gave rise to the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian). This change effectively replaced Classical Latin as the native vernacular.

Spoken language is always a dynamic, ever-evolving entity that eventually separates from written language to form dialects. This process is always quicker in peripheral areas and in isolation. When left to their own devices, dialects often develop into unique languages and this is exactly what happened to Latin.

The Latin spoken by the wealthy classes and the Latin spoken by the common people differed. Old Latin, which was spoken natively by the upper classes as well as by wealthy merchants and residents of mansions, was mostly preserved by the upper classes and later became the official standard for Latin throughout the empire. Because Greek was the language of higher education in the Roman empire, state officials in the Greek-speaking regions of the empire adopted that version of Latin as a second language, even though the upper classes in those regions were typically not proficient in Latin.