Latin and English as world languages
Roger Wright
Can we learn from what happened to Latin, in terms of its native speakers and foreign users? Comparisons are often made between the role Latin during after Roman Empire English present. These can be illuminating, particularly for student sociolinguistics Late Latin-speaking world, where a generous application uniformitarian principle allows us avoid now some misunderstandings that were common past: example, realization linguistic change is inevitable itself neither good nor bad, language-internal variation not pathological, need necessarily lead fragmentation, has been salutary. As result, modern view development into Romance, Romance separate languages, almost certainly more plausible than it used be. We have nuanced account present, even though there great deal do perhaps cannot know, including particular an inability sure about dating developments which occurred at point.
English Today