2 Tracking down lects in Roman Egypt
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Martti Leiwo
Abstract
This paper deals with different varieties of Greek in Egypt setting them in their social and linguistic context and identifying their distinctive characteristics. It offers a description of chosen varieties in a given context explaining the language usage and common features of the variety. In addition to this, the paper combines extra-linguistic contextual information with language usage. The scribes had diverse educational backgrounds and the documents had different functions, which had an impact on the linguistic output. Different educational background produced variation even inside the same genre and register. The overall analysis ultimately seeks to illustrate and understand the rate of language change in various linguistic situations. The main areas of study are the Oxyrhynchites and the Fayum area on the one hand and the Eastern Desert on the other, which represent very different linguistic areas. The Fayum with the nearby Nile valley was the most Hellenized area in Egypt, with many L1 Greek speakers. Thus, it is an area where we might expect to meet the highest number of professional Greek L1 scribes. The second area differs both linguistically and contextually from the Fayum and the Nile Valley. The Eastern Desert included a caravan route from the south to the Nile Valley, but there were also military routes with numerous praesidia, Roman forts, between the Red Sea and the Nile. The crucial difference between these two areas was the availability of professional scribes. The residents of the praesidia either had to write themselves or use anyone who had some writing skills. These Roman forts were lodged by many L2 Greek speakers, for whom their L1 produced contact-induced effects when writing L2 Greek.
Abstract
This paper deals with different varieties of Greek in Egypt setting them in their social and linguistic context and identifying their distinctive characteristics. It offers a description of chosen varieties in a given context explaining the language usage and common features of the variety. In addition to this, the paper combines extra-linguistic contextual information with language usage. The scribes had diverse educational backgrounds and the documents had different functions, which had an impact on the linguistic output. Different educational background produced variation even inside the same genre and register. The overall analysis ultimately seeks to illustrate and understand the rate of language change in various linguistic situations. The main areas of study are the Oxyrhynchites and the Fayum area on the one hand and the Eastern Desert on the other, which represent very different linguistic areas. The Fayum with the nearby Nile valley was the most Hellenized area in Egypt, with many L1 Greek speakers. Thus, it is an area where we might expect to meet the highest number of professional Greek L1 scribes. The second area differs both linguistically and contextually from the Fayum and the Nile Valley. The Eastern Desert included a caravan route from the south to the Nile Valley, but there were also military routes with numerous praesidia, Roman forts, between the Red Sea and the Nile. The crucial difference between these two areas was the availability of professional scribes. The residents of the praesidia either had to write themselves or use anyone who had some writing skills. These Roman forts were lodged by many L2 Greek speakers, for whom their L1 produced contact-induced effects when writing L2 Greek.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Contents VII
- List of contributors XI
- The Greek Alphabet XV
- List of abbreviations XVII
- 1 Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Novel questions and approaches 1
-
Part I: VARIETIES OF POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
- 2 Tracking down lects in Roman Egypt 17
- 3 Idiolect in focus: Two brothers in the Memphis Sarapieion (II BCE) 39
- 4 Imposing psychological pressure in papyrus request letters: A case study of six Byzantine letters written in an ecclesiastical context (VI–VII CE) 75
- 5 Greek in Egypt or Egyptian Greek? Syntactic regionalisms (IV CE) 115
- 6 In search of an Egyptian Greek lexicon in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt 141
- 7 Byzantine literature in “classicised” genres: Some grammatical realities (V–XIV CE) 163
- 8 From highly classicizing to common prose (XIII–XIV CE): The Metaphrasis of Niketas Choniates’ History 179
- 9 Back to the future: Akritic light on diachronic variation in Cappadocian (East Asia Minor Greek) 201
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Part II: DIMENSIONS OF VARIATION IN POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
- 10 Tense variation in Ptolemaic papyri: Towards a grammar of epistolary dialogue 243
- 11 The Classical norm and varieties of Post-classical Greek: Expressions of anteriority and posteriority in a corpus of official documents (I–II CE) 265
- 12 Orthographic variation and register in the corpus of Greek documentary papyri (300 BCE–800 CE) 299
- 13 The Greek phonology of a tax collector in Egypt in the first century CE 327
- 14 Metrical variation in Byzantine colophons (XI–XV CE): The example of ἡ μὲν χεὶρ ἡ γράψασα 353
- 15 Arguing and narrating: Text type and linguistic variation in tenth-century Greek 369
- 16 The distinctiveness of syntax for varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Linguistic upgrading from the third century BCE to the tenth century CE 381
- Index locorum 415
- Index nominum 423
- Index rerum 425
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Contents VII
- List of contributors XI
- The Greek Alphabet XV
- List of abbreviations XVII
- 1 Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Novel questions and approaches 1
-
Part I: VARIETIES OF POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
- 2 Tracking down lects in Roman Egypt 17
- 3 Idiolect in focus: Two brothers in the Memphis Sarapieion (II BCE) 39
- 4 Imposing psychological pressure in papyrus request letters: A case study of six Byzantine letters written in an ecclesiastical context (VI–VII CE) 75
- 5 Greek in Egypt or Egyptian Greek? Syntactic regionalisms (IV CE) 115
- 6 In search of an Egyptian Greek lexicon in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt 141
- 7 Byzantine literature in “classicised” genres: Some grammatical realities (V–XIV CE) 163
- 8 From highly classicizing to common prose (XIII–XIV CE): The Metaphrasis of Niketas Choniates’ History 179
- 9 Back to the future: Akritic light on diachronic variation in Cappadocian (East Asia Minor Greek) 201
-
Part II: DIMENSIONS OF VARIATION IN POST-CLASSICAL AND BYZANTINE GREEK
- 10 Tense variation in Ptolemaic papyri: Towards a grammar of epistolary dialogue 243
- 11 The Classical norm and varieties of Post-classical Greek: Expressions of anteriority and posteriority in a corpus of official documents (I–II CE) 265
- 12 Orthographic variation and register in the corpus of Greek documentary papyri (300 BCE–800 CE) 299
- 13 The Greek phonology of a tax collector in Egypt in the first century CE 327
- 14 Metrical variation in Byzantine colophons (XI–XV CE): The example of ἡ μὲν χεὶρ ἡ γράψασα 353
- 15 Arguing and narrating: Text type and linguistic variation in tenth-century Greek 369
- 16 The distinctiveness of syntax for varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Linguistic upgrading from the third century BCE to the tenth century CE 381
- Index locorum 415
- Index nominum 423
- Index rerum 425
