Language And Society In The Greek And Roman Worlds

222 Pages·2015·4.379 MB·

by  James Clackson

LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY IN THE GREEK
AND ROMAN WORLDS
Texts written in Latin, Greek and other languages provide ancient
historianswiththeirprimaryevidence,buttheroleoflanguageasa
source for understanding the ancient world is often overlooked.
Language played a key role in state-formation and the spread of
Christianity,theconstructionofethnicity,andnegotiatingpositions
of social status and group membership. Language could reinforce
socialnormsandshedlightontaboos.Thisbookpresentsanacces-
sible account of ways in which linguistic evidence can illuminate
topicssuchasimperialism,ethnicity,socialmobility,religion,gender
andsexualityintheancientworld,withoutassumingthereaderhas
anyknowledgeofGreekorLatin,oroflinguisticjargon.Itdescribes
theriseofGreekandLatinattheexpenseofotherlanguagesspoken
aroundtheMediterraneananddetailsthesocialmeaningsofdifferent
styles, and the attitudes of ancient speakers towards linguistic
differences.
james clackson is a recognized world authority on the Indo-
European language family. His research has focused on tracking the
historyandrelationshipsoftheancientlanguagesoftheMediterranean
basinandEurope,rangingfromArmeniantoVolscian.Hisprevious
books include The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and
Greek(1994),Indo-EuropeanLinguistics(2007),TheBlackwellHistory
of the Latin Language (with G. Horrocks, 2007) and The Blackwell
CompaniontotheLatinLanguage(2011).Heisalsoeditoroftheworld’s
oldest journal in continuous publication devoted to languages and
linguistics,theTransactionsofthePhilologicalSociety.
KEY THEMES IN ANCIENT HISTORY
EDITORS
P.A.Cartledge
ClareCollege,Cambridge
P.D.A.Garnsey
JesusCollege,Cambridge
KeyThemesinAncientHistoryaimstoprovidereadable,informedandoriginal
studies of various basic topics, designed in the first instance for students and
teachers of Classics and Ancient History, but also for those engaged in related
disciplines.EachvolumeisdevotedtoageneralthemeinGreek,Romanor,where
appropriate, Graeco-Roman history, or to some salient aspect or aspects of it.
Besidesindicatingthestateofcurrentresearchintherelevantarea,authorsseekto
show how the theme is significant for our own as well as ancient culture and
society.Byprovidingbooksforcoursesthatareorientedaroundthemesitishoped
toencourageandstimulatepromisingnewdevelopmentsinteachingandresearch
inancienthistory.
Otherbooksintheseries
Death-RitualandSocialStructureinClassicalAntiquity,byIanMorris9780521
374651(hardback)9780521376112(paperback)
LiteracyandOralityinAncientGreece,byRosalindThomas9780521373463
(hardback)9780521377423(paperback)
SlaveryandSocietyatRome,byKeithBradley9780521372879(hardback)9780
521378871(paperback)
Law,Violence,andCommunityinClassicalAthens,byDavidCohen978052138167
3(hardback)9780521388375(paperback)
PublicOrderinAncientRome,byWilfriedNippel9780521383271(hardback)978
0521387491(paperback)
FriendshipintheClassicalWorld,byDavidKonstan9780521454025(hardback)
9780521459983(paperback)
SportandSocietyinAncientGreece,byMarkGolden9780521496988(hardback)
9780521497909(paperback)
FoodandSocietyinClassicalAntiquity,byPeterGarnsey9780521641821
(hardback)9780521645881(paperback)
BankingandBusinessintheRomanWorld,byJeanAndreau9780521380317
(hardback)9780521389327(paperback)
RomanLawinContext,byDavidJohnston9780521630467(hardback)9780521
639613(paperback)
ReligionsoftheAncientGreeks,bySimonPrice9780521382014(hardback)9780
521388672(paperback)
ChristianityandRomanSociety,byGillianClark9780521633109(hardback)9780
521633864(paperback)
TradeinClassicalAntiquity,byNevilleMorley9780521632799(hardback)9780
521634168(paperback)
TechnologyandCultureinGreekandRomanAntiquity,bySerafinaCuomo9780
521810739(hardback)9780521009034(paperback)
LawandCrimeintheRomanWorld,byJillHarries9780521828208(hardback)
9780521535328(paperback)
TheSocialHistoryofRomanArt,byPeterStewart9780521816328(hardback)978
0521016599(paperback)
AncientGreekPoliticalThoughtinPractice,byPaulCartledge9780521454551
(hardback)9780521455954(paperback)
AsceticismintheGraeco-RomanWorld,byRichardFinnOP9780521862813
(hardback)9780521681544(paperback)
DomesticSpaceandSocialOrganisationinClassicalAntiquity,byLisaC.Nevett978
0521783361(hardback)9780521789455(paperback)
MoneyinClassicalAntiquity,bySittavonReden9780521453370(hardback)978
0521459525(paperback)
GeographyinClassicalAntiquity,byDanielaDueckandKaiBrodersen9780521
197885(hardback)9780521120258(paperback)
SpaceandSocietyintheGreekandRomanWorlds,byMichaelScott978110700915
8(hardback)9781107401501(paperback)
StudyingGenderinClassicalAntiquity,byLinFoxhall9780521553186(hardback)
9780521557399(paperback)
TheAncientJewsfromAlexandertoMuhammad,bySethSchwartz9781107041271
(hardback)9781107669291(paperback)

LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
IN THE GREEK AND ROMAN
WORLDS
JAMES CLACKSON
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521140669
©JamesClackson2015
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2015
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd.PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
isbn978-0-521-19235-4Hardback
isbn978-0-521-14066-9Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listofmaps pageix
Listoffigures x
Listoftables xi
Acknowledgements xii
Listofabbreviations xiii
1. ThelinguisticecologyoftheMediterranean 1
Introduction 1
Mappingthelanguagesoftheancientworld 2
Languages,dialectsandvarieties 11
Languageoriginsandlanguagechange 16
LanguagefamiliesintheMediterranean 22
LinguisticecologyoftheMediterranean 25
Cross-linguisticcommunicationintheancientworld 29
2. Statesoflanguages/languagesofstates 33
ThecaseofOldPersian 33
Standardandnationallanguages 35
ClassicalLatinasastandard 37
StandardGreek?LinearB 41
GreekintheArchaicandClassicalperiods 44
GreekdialectsintheHellenisticandRomanperiods 54
LinguisticnegotiationsandthemeaningofGreekdialect 59
3. Languageandidentity 63
Introduction 63
Languagesinthefaceofcolonizationandconquest 65
Linguisticsurvivalsandcounter-attacks? 69
LanguageandresistancetoRome 73
Bilingualinscriptionsasmarkersofidentity 78
LatinandGreekbilingualism 87
Modernandancientidentities 94
vii
viii Contents
4. Languagevariation 96
Introduction 96
Studyinglinguisticvariation 97
Trackinglinguisticvariationintheancientworld 103
Representinglanguagevariationinliterarytexts:Greekcomedy
inthefifthcenturybce 108
Representinglanguagevariationinliterarytexts:Rome,comedy
andthenovel 114
Languagevariationandlanguagechange 118
5. Language,gender,sexuality 123
Introduction 123
Genderdifferencesinspeech 124
Malespeech 134
Obscenity 137
6. ThelanguagesofChristianity 143
Bibletranslatorsandcradle-snatchers 143
WhatwouldJesussay? 151
ChristianGreekandChristianLatin 156
ChristianityandlocallanguagesintheRomanEmpire 163
Conclusion:Deadlanguages? 171
Bibliographicessay 176
References 179
Index 201
Thecolourplatesaretobefoundbetweenpages82and83.
Maps
Themapscanbefoundinthecolourplatesection.
1.1 TentativemapoflanguagesaroundtheMediterraneanbasin
inc.500bce
1.2 TentativemapoflanguagesaroundtheMediterraneanbasin
inc.400ce
2.1 ThedistributionoflocalGreekalphabetsafterKirchhoff
2.2 GreekdialectsintheClassicalperiod
ix
Figures
Everyefforthasbeenmadetosecurenecessarypermissionstoreproducecopyright
material in this work, though in some cases it has proved impossible to contact
copyrightholders.Ifanyomissionsarebroughttoournotice,wewillbehappyto
includeappropriateacknowledgementsinanysubsequentedition.
1.1 A(partial)family-treeofIndo-Europeanlanguages page20
2.1 Linedrawingofinscriptionnumber50‘SteleofPhilokhareinos’,
c.150ce.ReproducedfromWoodward(1929:323)bykindpermission
oftheSocietyforthePromotionofHellenicStudies 60
2.2 Plateofinscriptionnumber51(Fig.140)‘SteleofDamokrates’,
c.150ce.ReproducedfromWoodward(1929:324)bykindpermission
oftheSocietyforthePromotionofHellenicStudies 61
3.1 BilingualinscriptionfromAmathus,Cyprus,thirdcenturybce.
ReproducedfromMasson(2007:244) 79
3.2 TrilingualdedicationmadebyCleon,secondcenturybce 82
x