Language boundaries are theoretical borders between languages that do not necessarily follow political boundaries. They can be difficult to define due to mixed linguistic populations and border dialects. Language boundaries can cross political borders and raise questions of identity and politics. Changes in language boundaries can occur naturally or through pressure from dominant language groups. Language Switch Reversal is happening along the US-Mexico border. The concept of language boundaries can also be applied to the study of dialects and accents.
A language boundary is a theoretical boundary between languages. Such borders do not necessarily follow modern political boundaries and may cross borders or may be held entirely within the official border. The language border idea infers that the border is between two mutually incomprehensible languages such as the border between Swedish and Finnish, rather than the border between mutually intelligible languages such as Swedish and Norwegian.
Most studies of language boundaries tend to try to define when one language ends and another begins. This is rarely an easy task because linguistic populations are often mixed, and even in some areas with a single dominant language, there are enclaves that speak another language. Further complications arise when two languages mix to form a border dialect such as Limburgish. That said, nationalism has arguably made linguistic boundaries easier to define.
Language boundaries tend to cross often arbitrary political boundaries. This is most often seen in post-colonial areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, but can also be seen in parts of Europe. For example, Limburg, a Germanic language similar to Dutch and German, extends into the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and a corner of northwestern Germany around Dusseldorf. Another European example is Hungary. After the Treaty of Triannon in which France rewarded its allies by wresting land from the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, large numbers of ethnic Hungarians remained in Slovakia, Serbia and Romania.
Such cross-border languages raise the question of identity. Language does not automatically define a person’s identity, but the two are often linked. This occurs when language is tied to nationality and a dominant language group. This is less likely in countries without a dominant language. Even the linguistic border can define politics, as seen in Belgium, where the government is fragmented between Flemish Flanders to the north and French-speaking Wallonia to the south.
Language boundaries can remain fluid. Changes in boundaries can be caused by a number of processes. A process is the natural influence of a dominant language. In these cases, the dominant language, through linguistic osmosis, causes people to move away from their native language and speak the dominant language instead. This happened in Dalmatia with the dominance of Croatian, for example.
In other cases, the ethnic group speaking the dominant language will try to deny the minority language either by banning the language or by putting pressure on it. After the Treaty of Triannon, Romania actively moved Romanian speakers to Transylvanian cities to dilute the number of Hungarian speakers. Meanwhile, in Slovakia, the authorities have tried to ban Hungarian and deny Hungarians their rights. The same happened in Latvia with Russian speakers after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Even language boundaries can roll back. Language Switch Reversal (LSR) is happening along the modern US-Mexico border. After the United States conquered the Spanish-speaking states in the southwest of the country, Spanish was slowly pushed back and replaced with English. In the late 20th century, however, the influx of native Spanish speakers began pushing the boundary of the Spanish language towards its original boundary.
The ideas of language boundaries could be applied to the study of dialects and accents. Most of these are regionally based, such as Geordie in north east England and Glaswegian in Glasgow, Scotland. A study of a dialectal language boundary could be used to decide when Scouse, the dialect of the Liverpool area of England, ends and Mancunian, the Manchester dialect, begins.
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