Annotation. Although the Ager Faliscus lay between the areas where Etruscan, Latin and Sabellic languages were spoken, the inscriptions from the area from before c.150 bce show that it used a speech of its own, known as Faliscan. Most scholars agree that Faliscan is linguistically very close to Latin, but the hypothesis that it is in fact a Latin dialect has not been the subject of a major publication until now. In this work, the linguistic data on Faliscan provided by the inscriptions are analyzed and compared to the languages of the surrounding areas. Sociolinguistic aspects such as language contact and local identity are discussed as well. The main conclusion is that Faliscan can indeed be regarded as a dialect of Latin. The work includes a re-edition of all inscriptions, in many cases based on autopsy. This title can be previewed in Google Books - http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9789056295622.

Although the Ager Faliscus lay between the areas where Etruscan, Latin and Sabellic languages were spoken, the inscriptions from the area from before c.150 bce show that it used a speech of its own, known as Faliscan. Most scholars agree that Faliscan is linguistically very close to Latin, but the hypothesis that it is in fact a Latin dialect has not been the subject of a major publication until now. In this work, the linguistic data on Faliscan provided by the inscriptions are analyzed and compared to the languages of the surrounding areas. Sociolinguistic aspects such as language contact and local identity are discussed as well. The main conclusion is that Faliscan can indeed be regarded as a dialect of Latin. The work includes a re-edition of all inscriptions, in many cases based on autopsy.

Latin Grammarians on the Latin Accent offers a fresh perspective on a long-standing debate about the value of Latin grammarians writing about the Latin accent: should the information they give us be taken seriously, or should much of it be dismissed as copied mindlessly from Greek sources? This book focusses on understanding the Latin grammarians on their own terms: what they actually say about accents, and what they mean by it. Careful examination of Greek and Latin grammatical texts leads to a better understanding of the workings of Greek grammatical theory on prosody, and of its interpretation in the Latin grammatical tradition. It emerges that Latin grammarians took over from Greek grammarians a system of grammatical description that operated on two levels: an abstract level that we are not supposed to be able to hear, and the concrete level of audible speech. The two levels are linked by a system of rules. Some points of Greek thought on prosody were taken over onto the abstract level and not intended as statements about the actual sound of Latin, while other points were so intended. While this book largely sets aside the question whether the Latin grammarians tell us the truth about the Latin accent, focussing instead on understanding what they actually say, it begins to offer answers for those wishing to know when to 'believe' Latin grammarians in the traditional sense: the book shows which of their statements are intended - and which are not intended - as statements about the actual sound of Latin.

A Companion to the Latin Language presents a collection of original essays from international scholars that track the development and use of the Latin language from its origins to its modern day usage. Brings together contributions from internationally renowned classicists, linguists and Latin language specialists Offers, in a single volume, a detailed account of different literary registers of the Latin language Explores the social and political contexts of Latin Includes new accounts of the Latin language in light of modern linguistic theory Supplemented with illustrations covering the development of the Latin alphabet

Languages show variations according to the social class of speakers and Latin was no exception, as readers of Petronius are aware. The Romance languages have traditionally been regarded as developing out of a 'language of the common people' (Vulgar Latin), but studies of modern languages demonstrate that linguistic change does not merely come, in the social sense, 'from below'. There is change from above, as prestige usages work their way down the social scale, and change may also occur across the social classes. This book is a history of many of the developments undergone by the Latin language as it changed into Romance, demonstrating the varying social levels at which change was initiated. About thirty topics are dealt with, many of them more systematically than ever before. Discussions often start in the early Republic with Plautus, and the book is as much about the literary language as about informal varieties.