LINGUIST List 20.620
Fri Feb 27 2009
Diss: Historical Ling/Phonology/Writing Systems: Sirola: 'Two ...'
Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter
<evelynlinguistlist.org>
1. Dorjana
Sirola,
Two Pre-Roman Alphabets of Northern Italy: Venetic and Raetic
Message 1: Two Pre-Roman Alphabets of Northern Italy: Venetic and Raetic
Date: 27-Feb-2009
From: Dorjana Sirola <dorjana.sirolamail.inet.hr>
Subject: Two Pre-Roman Alphabets of Northern Italy: Venetic and Raetic
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Institution: University of Oxford
Program: Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2005
Author: Dorjana Sirola
Dissertation Title: Two Pre-Roman Alphabets of Northern Italy: Venetic and Raetic
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
Phonology
Writing Systems
Subject Language(s): Raetic (xrr)
Venetic (xve)
Dissertation Director:
John H W Penney
Anna Morpurgo Davies
Dissertation Abstract:
The dissertation, conceived as a pilot study for a project which wouldencompass all the Etruscan-derived pre-Roman scripts of northern Italy,concerns itself with the transmission processes, developments andadaptations resulting in alphabets of Etruscan origin which were used towrite two languages, Venetic and Raetic, during the first millennium BC,and with the cross-fertilisation between these local alphabets. Following adiscussion of the relationship between Etruscan orthography and thephonological system, with special attention given to the problem of the'aspirate letters,' the main body of the thesis is taken up with detaileddescription and analysis of individual signs appearing in Venetic andRaetic inscriptional evidence, and their relationship to the phonology ofthe respective languages. These data are used to analyse the development ofthe alphabets from their source(s) in terms of the modifications of thesource writing system that constitute its adaptation for the targetlanguage, and to identify particular strategies employed in adaptation andthe reasons for them. The Venetic alphabets are shown to all ultimatelyderive from a single Etruscan source, which is argued to be a southernEtruscan system, and the differences between local Venetic alphabets tooriginate in internal reforms which were caused or supported by reasons ofphonology or graphemics, script economy, and a desire to maintain localidentities. A very tentative reconstruction of the Raetic phonologicalsystem is attempted, based on features of the alphabets that served assources for its writing systems. The differences between Raetic alphabetsare argued to originate in different sources and/or different patterns ofadaptation or influence from Venetic and Etruscan; cross-fertilisationbetween Raetic alphabets and the persistent influence of differentalphabetic variants of Venetic on them is emphasised.
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