The Utilitarian Core Hypothesis: Cases for Testing the Stability of Languages in the Wake of Conquest

Abstract

Based on the “utilitarian core hypothesis” that the most common words of a language develop early and resist change, the current exploratory study examined three test cases to suggest what happens to the common core of a language when its speakers are conquered. Whissell (1998) raised this issue by implication through demonstrating that the common core of English is largely Anglo-Saxon and thus survived the Norman Conquest. The notion that unique merits of English accounted for its success has a long history dating at least to Verstegan (1605/1976). We suggested that there are also instances of conquest in history illustrating the persistence of other languages despite the political subjugation of their speakers. Test cases included, in addition to the Norman Conquest of England, the Arab-Berber Conquest of most of the Iberian Peninsula, and Russian domination of modern Uzbekistan. The combined results suggest that persistence of a utilitarian core despite conquest is not an isolated instance. As a phenomenon it offers a more parsimonious account than do appeals to the special merits of English, Spanish, or Modern Uzbek. We have integrated these findings within a psychological framework pertaining to language use and change.