Code-switching in the records of a Scottish brotherhood in early modern Poland-Lithuania

Kopaczyk, J. (2013) Code-switching in the records of a Scottish brotherhood in early modern Poland-Lithuania. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 49(3), pp. 281-319. (doi: 10.1515/psicl-2013-0011)

Abstract

This paper discusses code-switching in the records of a Protestant brotherhood which were kept by Scottish emigrants in the Polish city of Lublin in the late 17th century. This manuscript material has not been analyzed linguistically yet. Indeed, Scottish migration to the Continent in the early modern period has only recently been studied with more attention by historians while a linguistic assessment of the writings composed by the Scots in the emigrant context is still pending. The analysis shows how Latin, the universal language of administration, and Polish, the language of the host community, helped Scottish writers to construct authoritative and context-sensitive texts, or literacy events (Sebba 2012). The discussion identifies pragmatic and discourse-related differences between switches to Latin and to Polish, and pays due attention to the questions of the socio-historical background, language status, genre and channel in the context of historical code-switching.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kopaczyk, Professor Joanna
• Authors: Kopaczyk, J.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics
• Journal Name: Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• ISSN: 0137-2459
• ISSN (Online): 1897-7499