Lingua Franca in the Mediterranean

Download or read book Lingua Franca in the Mediterranean written by J. E. Wansborough and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subject of this study is the language of commerce and diplomacy during the period from 1500 BCE to 1500 CE. Based on texts of chancery provenance, its aim is the identification of a linguistic sub-system that effected and informed the major channel of international relations. The standard procedures of contact and exchange generated a format that facilitated inter-lingual transfer of concepts and terms. Lingua Franca refers to the several natural languages that served as vehicle in the transfer, but also to the format itself.