Editing Language change (section)

==Language shift and social status==
{{main|Language shift}}
Languages perceived to be "higher status" stabilise or spread at the expense of other languages perceived by their own speakers to be "lower-status".

Historical examples are the early Welsh and Lutheran Bible translations, leading to the liturgical languages Welsh and High German thriving today, unlike other Celtic or German variants.<ref>{{cite book
|last= Barker
|first= Christopher
|title= The Bible in Welsh
|year= 1588
|location= London
|url= http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/pix/welsh.htm
}}</ref>

For prehistory, Forster and Renfrew (2011)<ref>{{cite journal | author=Forster P, Renfrew C |year=2011 |title=Mother tongue and Y chromosomes | url= http://www.rootsforreal.com/press_en.php | journal=Science | volume=333 |pages=1390–1391 | bibcode=2011Sci...333.1390F | last2=Renfrew | doi=10.1126/science.1205331 | pmid=21903800 | issue=6048|s2cid=43916070 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> argue that in some cases there is a correlation of language change with intrusive male Y chromosomes but not with female mtDNA. They then speculate that technological innovation (transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture, or from stone to metal tools) or military prowess (as in the abduction of British women by Vikings to [[Iceland]]) causes immigration of at least some males, and perceived status change. Then, in mixed-language marriages with these males, prehistoric women would often have chosen to transmit the "higher-status" spouse's language to their children, yielding the language/Y-chromosome correlation seen today.