Notha verba: interferenza e mutamento attraverso le formazioni ibride latino–greco

In the widely explored domain of language contact between Latin and Greek, interference can occur and surface in a peculiar way through hybrid formations that, although classified as indirect borrowing and sometimes considered as marginal phenomena, are nonetheless relevant to the dynamics of bilingualism. Under this assumption, this paper examines the creation and the diffusion of both hybrid compounds and derived hybrids with a focus on the speaker’s role in detecting similarities, in modulating adaptive strategies, or in balancing competing motivations and conflicting rules. The discussion shows that hybrids can thus offer interesting perspectives not only on language contact, but also on language change.