PHONOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS OF TRADE ROUTES: LINGUISTIC EVIDENCE FROM MINOR MERCANTILE LANGUAGES

Аннотация:

Trade routes have long served as conduits not only for goods and economic exchange but also for the circulation of linguistic features across regions and cultures. While major lingua francas such as Latin, Arabic, and Persian have been widely studied, far less scholarly attention has been directed toward the smaller, transient mercantile languages that once bridged communities across land and maritime networks. This article investigates the phonological imprints left by such minor trade languages, with an emphasis on how their contact dynamics introduced or modified specific phonological traits in the languages they interacted with. Drawing on selected case studies from the Indian Ocean rim, Central Asian caravan routes, and the East African coast, the study demonstrates that phonological diffusion is often more detectable than lexical borrowing, especially when short-term or low-prestige contact is involved.The research employs a comparative-phonological methodology that integrates historical documentation, reconstructed sound systems, and modern dialect evidence, aiming to trace the lingering echoes of lost or poorly attested mercantile tongues. The findings suggest that minor trade languages often served as intermediaries responsible for the spread of phonotactic patterns, the introduction of unfamiliar phonemes, and shifts in prosodic features. Moreover, they reveal that phonological influence tends to persist even when lexical traces vanish, making phonological footprints uniquely valuable for reconstructing linguistic contact histories.

Ultimately, this study argues that examining small-scale trade languages enriches our understanding of language contact phenomena, particularly in regions with layered histories of commerce and migration. By foregrounding phonological evidence, the research highlights the potential for reconstructing socio-economic interactions that are poorly represented in written records. This approach opens new avenues for historical philology by combining linguistic archaeology with the study of intercultural exchange.