Colloquial and Literary Latin. Edited by Eleanor Dickey & Anna Chahoud

How can linguists studying ancient languages make sure that they are aware of register differences in their texts? How can they safely single out features of the spoken language in corpora that are by definition written? And how can they reach more fine-grained sociolinguistic classifications of ‘colloquial’ traits? Colloquial and Literary Latin aims to answer these questions. It deals with issues significant for any researcher in historical linguistics who has to work with Latin sources or with texts heavily influenced by Latin models. But its contribution goes beyond Latin studies and addresses foundational concerns of historical linguistics.