HE WHO LOSES HIS LANGUAGE LOSES HIS LAW: THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN IBERIA

Abstract

Analysis of language use in medieval and early modern Iberia has been carried out in different studies with a focus on either Muslim Iberia or Christian Iberia but we still lack more comprehensive comparative studies. In this article, the authors will approach the specific question of linguistic policies and linguistic attitudes in these two historical contexts from the vantage point of the interaction between language and religion. The association of Arabic with Islam and that of Romance with Christianity will be examined in these two historical periods in which each religious group constituted either the ruling class or the religious minority. The comparative analysis of these two linguistic situations will build on and benefit from recent work developed in the field of the sociology of language and religion.