History of Multilingualism and Code Switching

 

The first concrete proof of multilingual communication is linked back to Sumerians on clay tablets

( 2600 BC ) and Ancient Egypt with administrative documents in Demotic, Greek, Latin, Coptin and Arabic.

We can see that talking in different languages wasn't just reserved for professional texts as there is a lot

code switching in Cicero's personal letters ( 100 BC ).


In the middle ages we can see the hand-on multilingualism, where people only knew the basics of

different languages which helped with trading with different merchants.


Only after the period of Renaissance ( 1300 ), society started to highlight rationality increasing grammar

and structure for each language. After this period it was about perfecting the languages, both spoken and

written, which privilege was reserved for the elite.


This shows how before the Renaissance knowing different languages was quite common among working

class people however perfecting them was never goal ; the focus was on efficient communication. Also

this shows how before the perfection of the languages, code switching in person and in text was common

especially in the elite and merchant groups. We know now it's natural for multilingual people to switch

between languages as they communicate and it's interesting to see this is a practice that goes decades back.



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