This paper focuses on the distribution of the alternation of <B> and <V> in a corpus of Latin inscriptions from Sardinia (1st century BC – 7th century AD). The distribution of the graphemes has been related to the dating and the provenance place of the inscriptions, and the total number of occurrences has been compared with the number of corresponding forms in Classical Latin. The amount of other consonantal misspellings in the texts has been examined as well, in order to verify whether the absence of misspellings could be due to a high degree of literacy of those involved in the crafting of the inscriptions. The results of the survey show a widespread graphemic confusion between <B> and <V> in the island, especially from the third century AD. In most of the cases, Classical Latin /w/ is represented as <B>, both in initial and internal position. It will be shown that the examination of the variables considered here could shed light on the evolution of Latin /b/ and /w/ in Sardinia.
The paper focuses on the omission of final -s in Latin inscriptions found in the corpus CLaSSES (Corpus for Latin Sociolinguistic Studies on Epigraphic textS, http://classeslatin-linguistics.fileli.unipi.it) from 350 BC till 50 AD.The distribution of final -s has been examined in the endings of the second declension with respect to several variables, such as the dating and the place of provenance of the inscription.The results show that the restoration of the grapheme spread from Rome starting from the mid-third century BC, when the city was the political and economic centre of the conquered territories. Therefore, the Latin of Rome was perceived as prestigious by Roman citizens. The process of -s restoration was completed by the mid-first century BC and appears to be strictly related with the raising o > u in final syllable.Therefore, the omissions of final -s found in inscriptions outside Rome in the second and first century BC can be considered to be residuals of the ancient pronunciation in areas not yet completely reached by the innovation, whereas in Rome they can be considered as forms of a low sociolinguistic level. THE OMISSION OF FINAL -S: IAM SUBRUSTICUM VIDETURThe problem associated with the omission of final -s in Early Latin and its later restoration is still highly debated within the scientific community. The analysis of the literary and nonliterary sources concerning this topic has led scholars to propose different hypotheses.The most problematic piece of evidence is the well-known comment by Cicero (Orat. 161), which defines the omission of final -s before a consonant as subrusticum: Quin etiam, quod iam subrusticum videtur, olim autem politius, eorum verborum, quorum eaedem erant postremae duae litterae quae sunt in optimus, postremam litteram detrahebant, nisi vocalis insequebatur. Ita non erat ea offensio in versibus quam nunc fugiunt poetae novi. Sic enim loquebamur: qui est / o mnı b u' pr ı nc e ps/, non omnibus princeps et: vita illa /d ı gn u' lŏc oqu e /, non dignus. Quodsi indocta consuetudo tam est artifex suavitatis, quid ab ipsa tandem arte et doctrina postulari putamus?Furthermore, though it now seems somewhat countryfied, it was once considered refined to drop the last letter, if the word ended in the same two letters as optimus, unless a vowel followed. Consequently this was not thought objectionable in verse; now it is avoided by the 'new' poets. So we used to say: qui est omnibu' princeps, not omnibus princeps, and: vita illa dignu' locoque, not dignus. If custom, untaught, is such an artificer of sweet sounds, what have we a right to expect from art and study? (Translated by Hendrickson and Hubbell Loeb Classical Library 342).
The article by Robert Crellin and Lucia Tamponi elucidates the vowel quality and quantity of Neo-Punic and Latin from North Africa and Sardinia. An important innovation presented in the article is the investigation not only of the representation of vowels in Neo-Punic by means of matres lectionis, but also of zero-representation and its relation to representation by matres lectionis. This sheds light on the degree of sensitivity of writers of Neo-Punic inscriptions to vowel length in Latin. The examination of the representation of vowel length and vowel quality further reveals that in both North Africa and Sardinia the distinction between /i, eː/ and /u, oː/ was retained despite the merger of these phonemes in Common Romance. The authors convincingly suggest that this is due to ties between North Africa and Sardinia. The article thus adds to our understanding of the linguistic development of both Romance and Punic in North Africa and Sardinia and to the relations between those two communities.
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