Organizers: Serena Barchi – Francesca Cotugno – Lucia Tamponi
Contact information for questions: francesca.cotugno@unipa.it
Please send abstract to: lvlt2026@ateneo.univr.it
The Late Antiquity and Early Medieval period shaped Latin as both spoken and written practice, where the latter refracted both linguistic change and the mosaic of identities across Europe. The relation between phonology and graphematics – whether writing mirrors speech or constitutes an autonomous system – remains central in historical linguistics. Research shows that scripts neither reproduce sound transparently nor detach from it entirely: they refract phonology through scribal practice, material support, and cultural convention. This tension reveals how orthography functioned both as linguistic notation and as a vehicle of identity.
The workshop gathers papers on the interfaces of language and writing, including:
• Orthographic variation as evidence of phonological change or graphematic autonomy
• Onomastics as a site of identity negotiation, resisting or reworking classical norms
• Paragraphematic practices that structure texts and shape meaning
• Numeracy and notational systems where number representation intersects with literacy and identity.
By discussing Latin, from both manuscript and epigraphic sources, the workshop promotes dialogue between historical linguistics, graphematics and palaeography. Its main hypothesis is that writing systems evolve through a continuous negotiation of linguistic and extra-linguistic functions – each variant marking both an identity claim and a record of changing linguistic practice.
References
Adams J.N. (2007) The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC–AD 600. Cambridge: CUP
Barchi S. (2024) Enhancing Resolution. Grapho-phonological Phenomena in the Ancient Roman World: Variation, Continuity and Discontinuity. Pisa: PUP
Cotugno F. (2022) Writing and Orthography in Non-Literary Texts from Roman Britain: A Sociolinguistic Approach. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz
Rovai F. (in press) “Between Digit and Symbol: The Figure ‘6’ in Christian Epigraphy.” Ricerche Linguistiche, 2
Tamponi L. (2022) Variation and Change in Sardinian Latin: The Epigraphic Evidence. Pisa: Pisa University Press
Tamponi L. & Barchi S. (2025). “Shaping Shapes: Sicilicus and Other Diacritics in Latin Epigraphy.” In G. Galdi, S. Aerts, & A. Papini (eds.), Varietate delectamur: Multifarious Approaches to Synchronic and Diachronic Variation in Latin. Selected Papers from the 14th International Colloquium on Late and Vulgar Latin (Ghent, 2022). Turnhout: Brepols