@phdthesis{01HZMPE4AKQXC02R9FAFJNVWQ9,
  abstract     = {{The study in this thesis aims to shed new light on one of the most important changes that occurred during the so-called transition from Latin to Romance, namely the reshaping of the vowel system of “Classical” Latin (based on quantitative oppositions) into the vowel system of the Romance languages (based on vowel quality contrasts), with special reference to the Latin of Rome. The problem has been thoroughly investigated by modern scholarship for more than a century (starting with Schuchardt’s Der Vokalismus der Vulgärlateins = 1866-68). However, as it will become clear, several crucial research questions remain unanswered. For example, how should instances of <e> for /i/ in inscriptions of the 3rd-2nd cent. BCE (such as the well-known form <Tempestatebus> for Tempestatĭbus in CIL, I2 9) be interpreted? At what point in the history of Latin did the qualitative shifts occur that caused /i/ and /u/ to merge with /eː/ and /oː/, respectively, in most of Romània? Is it true that the former shift (/i/ > [ɪ] > [e]) preceded the latter (/u/ > [ʊ] > [o]) in Roman Latin? What were the sociolinguistic dynamics that enhanced this fundamental change? What role did lexical stress play in the reshaping of the vowel system?
In order to answer these questions, this study will examine all vowel “misspellings” involving the writing of /i, u/, /eː, oː/ (and /e, o/ in the unstressed syllables) in a (socio)linguistically annotated corpus of 6,787 Latin inscriptions from Rome (whose epigraphic material has largely been ignored by previous research on the subject). The dating of the inscriptions in this corpus (divided into six different periods and three “sociolinguistic groups”, based on formality) covers almost a millennium, from about 250 BCE to about 600 CE. The “misspellings” under investigation will be examined in detail, so that only those vowel confusions (<e> vs. <i> and <o> vs. <u>) that are more likely to point in the direction of the subsequent Romance developments (rather than having an alternative explanation, either linguistic or non-linguistic) will be considered. This qualitative analysis will be followed by a comprehensive quantitative and statistical study of the linguistic data in the corpus. Moreover, the information derived from such data will be connected with the metalinguistic evidence in Latin grammarians. The extension of the corpus (in terms of the number of inscriptions considered) and the use of modern statistical techniques will allow us to overcome (at least partially) the limitations of previous scholarly accounts of the vocalism of Latin inscriptions (which have mostly considered small epigraphic samples and/or used exclusively quantitative, as opposed to statistical approaches). The qualitative, quantitative, and statistical analysis just described will attempt to answer the research questions outlined above. The result will be a more accurate description of how the fundamental change that is the main subject of this research actually took place.}},
  author       = {{Papini, Alessandro}},
  keywords     = {{Latin inscriptions,"Vulgar" Latin,vowel system,<e>/<i> and <o>/<u> spelling confusion}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{XVIII, 358}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Arts and Philosophy}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Latin epigraphy and the 'Vulgar' Latin vowel system (ca. 250 BCE - ca. 600 CE) : a qualitative, quantitative (and statistical) study based on the inscriptional sources of the city of Rome}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}