Variation and Change in Sardinian Latin. The Epigraphic Evidence

The interplay between synchronically available variants in Latin, as well as the dynamics of contact and interference in the Roman world, have sparked great interest in the scientific community. Among the sources available for variationist studies on the Latin language, the analysis of the epigraphic texts from Roman Sardinia is a promising field of research. This geographically delimited area, characterized by a multi-faceted community of speakers featuring different languages, lends itself to linguistic studies focused on diatopic variation and interference. Furthermore, the unique Sardo-Romance outcomes and the scarcity of non-epigraphic sources for the Roman period make the investigation of the Latin-Romance transition of the Sardinian varieties even more attractive. This volume describes the salient features of the variety of Latin spoken in Sardinia through the analysis of the graphemic and phonological variants found in the Latin inscriptions from the island (1st century BCE-7th century CE). A ‘linguistic profile’ for Sardinia is reconstructed taking into account the dynamics of linguistic varia¬tion in its community. Relevant case studies in light of the evolution from Latin to Sardo-Romance are also examined. The common features between the provinces of Sardinia and Africa are underlined and critically discussed, in the theoretical framework of historical sociolinguistics.