Historical linguistics

Metalinguistic texts as a privileged data source for the knowledge of ancient languages.

Metalinguistic texts as a privileged data source for the knowledge of ancient languages.

The research group of Rome “La Sapienza” is rethinking a fundamental set of lexical lists, grammars – which are essential to stare at otherwise unattainable linguistic developments through the indirect lens they make available to us. The first line of investigation concerns the Appendix Probi studied as a source for an indirect reconstruction of mainly phonetic developments making inroads in Vulgar Latin.

Ancient languages and writing systems in contact: a touchstone for language change. - Lingue antiche e sistemi scrittorî in contatto: pietra di paragone del mutamento linguistico

Ancient languages and writing systems in contact: a touchstone for language change. - Lingue antiche e sistemi scrittorî in contatto: pietra di paragone del mutamento linguistico

The research group of Roma Sapienza, PI of a funded national project PRIN 2017, investigates phonological developments suspected or evidenced by heterographs, bi- and tri-lingual texts, lexical borrowings, with regard to Greek for the eastern Mediterranean area and Latin for the southern Mediterranean. Accordingly, the following issues are investigated:

Linguistica positiva e politica della lingua in Ernesto Monaci

Il lavoro è un esame della produzione glottologica del grande filologo romanzo Ernesto Monaci, la cui attività si svolse in un torno di tempo fondamentale per la fondazione scientifica sia della linguistica storica sia di quella neo-latina (come allora si diceva). Dopo aver collocato l'attività di Monaci nel contesto del suo tempo, grazie a una minuziosa ispezione dei materiali editi e inediti (specie i suoi epistolari e i materiali delle lezioni in Sapienza) si rileva la cifra dell'opera rigorosamente positiva di Monaci filologo, paleografo più che propriamente linguista.

Review of: "Hermann Paul’s Principles of Language History Revisited. Translations and Reflections", eds. Peter Auer and Robert W. Murray, with contributions by Peter Auer, David Fertig, Paul J. Hopper, Robert W. Murray. Berlin - Boston: de Gruyter, 2

This paper reviews a recent book consisting in a new translation of some chapters of Paul’s Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte and some critical studies commenting and comparing the theories advanced by Paul with today’s linguistic theories. One of the aims of the paper, besides illustrating the merits of this beautiful volume, is to widen the comparison also to the less known general theories advanced by Italian linguists.

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