Medieval Diglossia and Modern Academic Discourse

During the Middle Ages scholars shifted from using only Latin in academic writing to incorporating the vernacular, English. As Latin helped shape vernacular writing, so did the vernacular shape Latin. And though influenced by Latin academic writing, the vernacular created a new discourse, neither entirely Latin nor English, but informed by both. This article explores the lessons that we, as contemporary scholars, can learn from the past about incorporating home languages in academic discourse.