More detailed discussions on: Y. Brandenburg: Amare mit Infinitv. Bedeutungsentlehnung und Sprachgebrauch bei Sallust und Horaz, Glotta 98, 2022, 68–77 (362f.); A. J. Woodman: Horace’s Second Ode, MH 79, 2022, 55–76 (363f.)

The case of Cicero’s de inventione is interesting for many reasons. First, the work is an early example of the construction of cultural memory in the field of Roman rhetoric. Second, this work shows a strong connection between rhetorical theory, the Ciceronian interest in other disciplines (especially philosophy) and the oratorical formation of a…[Read more]

The Dictio 17 (= 239 Vogel) of Ennodius is a controuersia in which the declamator speaks against a son who did not provide for the care of his aged father and thus procured his death. The argument is reinforced by examples of animals – eagles and wolves – who, unlike the defendant, take care of their parents. In the example of the eagles, Enn…[Read more]

While the discipline of computational linguistics mostly deals with the modeling and the investigation of individual languages (often “big” languages such as English, German, Arabic, or Chinese), Multilingual Computational Linguistics focuses on the comparison of languages, trying to develop new methods and techniques by which languages can be com…[Read more]

Since H. Humbach’s Baktrische Sprachdenkmäler (Wiesbaden, 1966) the main etymological
proposal for Bactrian χϸονο ‘(calendar) year, (regnal) year’ has been A. Thierfelder’s suggestion of a loanword from Hellenistic Greek χρόνος ‘time’. In this article the plausibility of this etymology is re-examined, and it is further argued that it should b…[Read more]

The present article examines the Corpus Leidense, the group of eight Ciceronian treatises among which the De natura deorum was also transmitted, focusing on its archetype. The second and longer section contains the first complete list of the 174 identified manuscripts of De natura deorum, with 57 new items added to the 117 already listed by Pease…[Read more]

The formalization of sound changes as finite state transducers is implicit already in the Neogrammarians. For at least six decades scholars have recognized the potential of transducers for improving the speed and rigor of research in historical linguists, but almost no historical linguists actually use them. This article identifies the obstacles…[Read more]

In the course, I give a basic introduction into some of the recent developments in the field of computational historical linguistics. While this field is predominantly represented by phylogenetic approaches with whom scholars try to infer phylogenetic trees from different kinds of language data, the approach taken here is much broader,…[Read more]

The weblog Computer-Assisted Language Comparison in Practice, published on the Hypotheses platform for scientific blogging (https://calc.hypotheses.org/), offers tutorials and discussion notes on computer-assisted approaches to the history and diversity of languages. A substantial part of its content is contributed as part of the ERC Starting…[Read more]

Lecture, given at the Fifth Pavia International Summer School for Indo-European Linguistics (Università di Pavia, 2022-09-05/09)

The Connections between ancient approaches to rhetoric, as found in Plato and Aristotle, the prime ancient theorists of rhetoric, and modern linguistic approaches to register and genre theory, as in Hallidayan linguistics, show continuity of thought across the centuries. They also suggest that there may be such things as universal rhetorical…[Read more]

A summary and contemporary application of the pedagogical handbook of Joseph Jouvancy, S.J. (1643-1719)

For a long time, metaphors have played an important role in depicting language history. In this study, we contrast early metaphors on language history, such as the family tree or the wave model, with recent metaphors that were popularized after the quantitative turn, such as forests of trees or phylogenetic networks. Speculating about metaphors…[Read more]

This article analyses orthographic variation in the Linear B tablets from the Mycenaean palace of Pylos. Despite the general consistency in spelling found in Linear B texts from all sites, variation was in certain cases both permissible and entirely normal, even within the work of a single writer. Examining the patterns of orthographic variation…[Read more]

The text on Nestor’s Cup (750-700 BCE) is not Greek as many claim but is actually Alphabetic Akkadian. Its three-line text is a debate about the cause of a drought. The first line blames the life network goddess Ayu and her eagle vultures while the second line blames emotion magic with its owls (like the Athenian owl). Alphabetic Akkadian was t…[Read more]

The chapter discusses recently developed computational techniques providing concrete help in addressing various tasks in historical language comparison, focusing specifically on those tasks which are typically subsumed under the framework of the comparative method. These include the proof of relationship, cognate and correspondence detection,…[Read more]

Heroes and Demons entered the northern Mediterranean culture between 600 and 500 BCE when the culture was transforming from the magical Ancient Pagan Paradigm to a lordified Paradigm which forced deity personification making them lords in a royal pantheon instead of powers. This caused an explosion in the number of deities and other divine realm…[Read more]

The past inability to translate Etruscan texts has meant that the interpretation of Etrucan art has been mostly speculation. This interpretation has been made even more difficult because this was the time when new demon imagery (Cyclops, Skadi) not seen in the past was being introduced as Etruscan religious culture was changing from the magical…[Read more]

This paper re-examines the question of the presence of distinct sociolects in Classical Athenian tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides). While the general idea is that all characters in tragedy spoke a similar language, without much distinction between sociolects that could have marked their socio-political status, some recent research has…[Read more]

This slide set includes a translation into English of Tam o’ Shanter by Robert Burns. The aim of the translation is to preserve the original poetic effect of the poem written in Scots. The slide set is intended for academic and educational purposes, as well as personal enjoyment.