Language plurarity in Late Antiquity and its effects on Ancient Grammar
Keywords:
Ancient Grammar, foreign language teaching, complex sociolinguistic contextsAbstract
This paper deals with the influence of plurilingual contexts on Ancient Grammar. It analyses a particular context, bringing into focus the coexistence of Latin and Greek in Late Antiquity, in the Eastern Roman Empire. The relationship between Latin and Greek is discussed, specifically considering them competing varieties of high prestige, and it concludes Latin was available as a super-high variety, to be used in situations demanding a high level of formality. Finally, this status of prestige variety that was assigned to Latin motivated the teaching of Latin as a foreign language in Constantinople. In this subject, this paper shows that Priscian’s Institutio de nomine et pronomine et verbo was used to cope with the demand by foreign language learners, as a regulae grammar could do.
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References
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