ABSTRACT
The importance of maritime routes as agents of language spread, contact and change, in both the Old and New Worlds, is well established for the historical period. Another maritime trade language that became a stable pidgin is Russenorsk, used in northern Norway around the Norway Sea and the Barents Sea by Russian merchants and Scandinavian and Lapp fishermen during the Pomor trade. In arguing for the role of socio-economic factors such as long-distance trade, elite interaction and maritime contacts, it is easy to forget other significant elements such as religion. Even in unilingual situations, ritual/religion is often associated with reserved language forms not in normal use. Religion is also an important factor in language spread. Languages acquire new users not only through natural population increase or language shifts but also 'through speakers using a language for either a new function or replacing one language with another for a specific function.
