J. N. Adams

James Noel Adams

Senior Research Fellow in Classics J N Adams

Since the 1980s, bilingualism has become one of the main themes of sociolinguistics - but there are as yet few large-scale treatments of the subject specific to the ancient world. This book is the first work to deal systematically with bilingualism during a period of antiquity (the Roman period, down to about the fourth century AD) in the light of sociolinguistic discussions of bilingual issues. The general theme of the work is the nature of the contact between Latin and numerous other languages spoken in the Roman world. Among the many issues discussed three are prominent: code-switching (the practice of switching between two languages in the course of a single utterance) and its motivation, language contact as a cause of change in one or both of the languages in contact, and the part played by language choice and language switching in the establishment of personal and group identities.

Bilingualism and the Latin Language

Bilingualism - the field of language contact - has seen an explosion of work in recent years, yet relatively little of this has focused on written texts. This volume aims to introduce classicists, ancient historians, and other scholars interested in sociolinguistic research to the evidence ofbilingualism in the ancient Mediterranean world. Language contact intruded into virtually every aspect of ancient life, and topics which have been fashionable in sociolinguistics for some time have now begun to attract the attention of scholars working in Graceo-Roman studies. The fifteen originalessays in this collection, which have been written by well-regarded experts, cover theoretical and methodological issues and key aspects of the contact between Latin and Greek and among Latin, Greek, and other languages. The collection is held together by a wide-ranging introduction which discussesthe many important topics recurring in the volume in the light of current work in classics and sociolinguistics.

Senior Research Fellow in Classics J N Adams

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