GISARC · Greek in Sicily after the Roman Conquest
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-10-01 → 2026-06-03
- EU contribution
- €183,473
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Greek in Sicily after the Roman Conquest
The project investigated the impact of Roman domination on the Greek language in Sicily through the analysis of the epigraphic texts and the application of a sociolinguistic perspective. When Sicily fell under Roman control around the third century BCE, Greek was the hegemonic language in the region; under Roman domination, Latin gradually infiltrated Sicily and acquired prestige as the language of administration and official contexts, as well as becoming widely used in private contexts as an increasing number of Latin speakers settled in the island. The questions of the survival of Greek in this area under Roman domination and of its interaction with Latin has been long debated: however, a comprehensive examination of the full epigraphic record, taking into account the historical context and conducted in the light of modern sociolinguistic theory, had not been previously attempted. The project considered the full corpus of epigraphic texts from Sicily dating between ca. 250 BCE and ca. 400 CE and offered an innovative interdisciplinary approach, combining linguistic analysis and investigation of historical and archaeological data within the theoretical frameworks of sociolinguistics. The project specifically aimed to: assess language choice and linguistic variation in different typologies of text; describe the effects of contact between Greek and Latin in the epigraphic texts; assess the impact of Roman domination on epigraphic culture; and compare data from different areas of Sicily and combine linguistic evidence with historical and archaeological data. The project was intended to fill a major gap in the scholarship of both Roman Sicily and of ancient bilingualism in general, and to function as a pilot study in its innovative comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
My project investigates the impact of Roman domination on Greek in Sicily through the analysis of the written sources that have come down to us and the application of a sociolinguistic perspective. The survival of Greek in Sicily under Roman domination and its interaction with Latin have been long debated, but a comprehensive examination of the epigraphic record, taking into account the full array of historical and archaeological evidence and conducted in the light of modern sociolinguistic theory, remains to be attempted. My research will accomplish this, and in particular it will: assess the use of Greek in different types of text, and its status and function compared to Latin; determine whether differences can be appreciated in the use and survival of Greek in different sites and how these can be put in relation with the socio-historical context; describe the effects of contact between Greek and Latin in the epigraphic sources. Such an investigation is now possible and timely, as an open access digital corpus of all the inscriptions from Sicily is currently under development (I.Sicily) and the next few years will offer opportunities for productive collaborations. My project is innovative in being the first study to consider the whole corpus of inscriptions from Sicily and in its interdisciplinary approach, which combines linguistic analysis with investigation of historical and archaeological data within the theoretical frameworks of sociolinguistics. It will fill a major gap in the scholarship of both Roman Sicily and language contact in antiquity in general, and, through its comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective, will offer an innovative approach that can be successfully applied to other areas as well. GISARC is what I need at this stage in order to achieve professional maturity as a researcher, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice is the ideal host institution where to implement it on account of the expertise and training opportunities that it offers.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA · VeneziaCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union