Complex sentence: According to Eric Hobsbawm (1990), only aristocrats and scholars spoke French before the French Revolution; about two-thirds of the population of the French kingdom spoke a variety of local indigenous languages often referred to as dialects.
Split into simpler sentences: According to Eric Hobsbawm (1990), only aristocrats and scholars spoke French before the French Revolution. About two-thirds of the population of the French kingdom spoke a variety of local indigenous languages l, often referred to as dialects.