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Stratum (linguistics)
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Linguistics/oQuamvf2">linguistics</a>, a stratum (<a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> for 'layer') or strate is a historical layer of <a href="/facts/Language/IRcTok2q">language</a> that influences or is influenced by another language through <a href="/facts/Language_contact/xU290Qnk">contact</a>. The notion of "strata" was first developed by the Italian linguist <a href="/facts/Graziadio_Isaia_Ascoli/czpmXaez">Graziadio Isaia Ascoli</a>, and became known in the English-speaking world through the work of two different authors in 1932. </p><p>Both concepts apply to a situation where an intrusive language establishes itself in the territory of another, typically as the result of <a href="/facts/Human_migration/r2oTzF6F">migration</a>. Whether the superstratum case (the local language persists and the intrusive language disappears) or the substratum one (the local language disappears and the intrusive language persists) applies will normally only be evident after several generations, during which the intrusive language exists within a <a href="/facts/Diaspora/jAEHerxI">diaspora</a> culture. </p><p>In order for the intrusive language to persist, the <i>substratum</i> case, the immigrant population will either need to take the position of a political <a href="/facts/Elite/8ceFK8LD">elite</a> or immigrate in significant numbers relative to the local population, i.e., the intrusion qualifies as an <a href="/facts/Invasion/lTR2bUMV">invasion</a> or <a href="/facts/Colonisation/mp9GRL94">colonisation</a>. An example would be the <a href="/facts/Roman_Empire/l4E1aUuV">Roman Empire</a> giving rise to <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance languages</a> outside Italy, displacing <a href="/facts/Gaulish/CAQo48pc">Gaulish</a> and many other <a href="/facts/Indo-European_languages/L34TfgSr">Indo-European languages</a>. </p><p>The <i>superstratum</i> case refers to elite invading populations that eventually adopt the language of the native lower classes. An example would be the <a href="/facts/Burgundians/7gNzAbbS">Burgundians</a> and <a href="/facts/Franks/RHyCqfkd">Franks</a> in France, who eventually abandoned their Germanic dialects in favor of other Indo-European languages of the Romance branch, profoundly influencing the local speech in the process. </p>