THE DESINTEGRATION OF THE PARENTAL LANGUAGE: LINGUISTIC AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC ASPECTS

Abstract

The present paper deals with the problems,
that are connected with the key notion of comparative linguistics
called parental language (protolanguage). Although
in the history of linguistic science there were some attempts
to compromise this notion, it remains generally accepted
both in scientific and educational literature. But the problem
of the objective criteria, that give us the possibility to define
the exact period of its disintegration, i.e. the time, when the
parental language ceases its existence and the history of the
different kin languages begins, is still in many of its aspects
unsolved. Due to the systemiс and structural character of the
language on the one hand, and its social nature on the other,
the authors suggest differentiating the two aspects mentioned
taking into account a possibility of their non-coincidence in
some cases.