International Conference
Perceptions and social uses of the Ancient Greek dialects
University of Oxford, 21–22 September 2023
As newly discovered texts continuously enhance our knowledge of the dialects of Ancient Greece, research on Greek dialectology has long focused on the grammatical description of these regional varieties as autonomous linguistic systems. However, it is cross-linguistically true that the use of dialects is not always determined by geographical factors alone. Although their distribution in space often remains a major conditioning force, dialects may also acquire, or be assigned, social meanings, and speakers may begin to associate specific forms of regional varieties with communicative situations and purposes that are independent of geographical origin and location as such.
Under the title “Perceptions and social uses of the Ancient Greek dialects”, the next conference on Ancient Greek dialectology, to be held in Oxford on 21–22 September 2023, aims to explore such sociolinguistic and socio-pragmatic dimensions of dialect variation in the Greek world.
Conference Programme
Thursday, 21 September 2023
09:15 Welcome and opening remarks
Session I: Poetic dialects and epigraphic poetry
09:30 Sara Kaczko (Roma)
“Doric” and Ionic-epic forms vs. epichoric counterparts in the Attic poetic traditions
10:10 Paloma Guijarro Ruano (Madrid)
Dialect variation, literary languages and unexpected features in Greek epigraphic poetry down to 500 BC
10:50 Coffee / Tea
11:10 Alcorac Alonso Déniz (Lyon)
Local dialects and “literary language(s)” in Classical and Hellenistic inscribed sacred songs:tradition, linguistic adaptation, and transmission
11:50 Dalia Pratali Maffei (Cambridge)
Coan Hellenistic inscribed epigrams: between dialectal regularisation and local influence
12:30 Lunch
Session II: Regional histories of dialect use and variation
13:30 Araceli Striano (Madrid)
Dialect competition: Arcadian as a test case
14:10 Monique Bile (Nancy)
Le dialecte crétois ancien: cadre sociopolitique
14:50 Coffee / Tea
15:10 Guy Vottéro (Nancy)
Le dialecte béotien (8ef/7ed – 2e s.): écologie d’un système
15:50 René Hodot (Nancy)
Le dialecte, la koiné et le latin à Lesbos
Keynote lecture
17:00 Panagiotis Filos (Ioannina)
Koineization across North-West Doric areas: evidence from personal names
Friday 22 September 2023
Session III: When and how to switch to Koine Greek
09:30 Matilde Garré (Paris)
Competing influences and dialectal models in the language of Boeotian proxeny decrees (4th–2nd c. BCE):between Attic, North-West koina, and Ionic-Attic koine
10:10 Florian Réveilhac (Marburg)
Writing to gods and humans: dialect and koine in the Cnidian inscriptions
10:50 Coffee / Tea
11:10 Emilio Crespo (Madrid) & Georgios Giannakis (Thessaloniki)
Koine as a mark of formal interpersonal linguistic communication in the Dodona lead tablets
11:50 Sophie Minon (Paris)
À l’avant-garde de la koinè: les noms de personnes
12:30 Lunch
Session IV: Perceptions and classifications of the Greek dialects in antiquity and beyond
13:30 Anna Novokhatko (Thessaloniki)
κέστραν μὲν ὔμμες ὡττικοὶ κικλήσκετε: perceptions of linguistic divergence in Greek comedy
14:10 Federico Favi (Vercelli)
Unlicensed Greek: the “dialect of Alexandria” as a sociolinguistic category
14:50 Coffee / Tea
15:10 Niels Schoubben (Leiden)
Historical perceptual dialectology meets/needs textual criticism: the Grammaticus Leidensis and Gregory of Corinth on the Aeolic dialect
15:50 Chiara Monaco (Gent)
The Aeolodoric theory: a reflection on the perception of ancient Greek dialects
Keynote lecture
17:00 Olga Tribulato (Venezia)
Sounding Attic in imperial inscriptions
Conference venue
Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles’, Oxford OX1 3LU
Registration
The conference is open to the public. Those interested in participating are asked to pre-register by 1 September 2023; to do so, please contact the organisers via e-mail (andreas.willi@worc.ox.ac.uk).
To cover the cost of lunch and refreshments, a registration fee of £20.00 will be charged to participants other than speakers as well as student and other members of the University of Oxford.
A limited number of places for the conference dinner with the speakers may be available on a first come, first served basis; the dinner will take place in the evening of Thursday, 21 September 2023 at Worcester College, Oxford. The cost for this will be £65.00; please indicate at the time of registration whether you would like to attend the dinner.
Download the full PDF Programme here
Further information
For further information, please contact the conference organisers:
Professor Philomen Probert (philomen.probert@wolfson.ox.ac.uk)
Professor Andreas Willi (andreas.willi@worc.ox.ac.uk)
