The language of Roman letters : bilingual epistolography from Cicero to Fronto / Olivia Elder, Alex Mullen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elder, Olivia, author.

Mullen, Alex, 1982- author.

Series:

Cambridge classical studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latin letters--History and criticism.

Latin letters.

Code switching (Linguistics).

Multilingualism--Rome.

Multilingualism.

Rome (Empire).

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xiii, 333 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Roman letters demonstrate that language has imperium: the power to resolve problems, to negotiate relationships and to construct identities. This book combines sociolinguistic and historical approaches to explore how that power is deployed by the bilingual elite of the Roman Republic and Empire, offering the first systematic analysis of Greek code-switches in the letters of Cicero, Pliny, Marcus Aurelius and Fronto and in the Lives of Suetonius. Greek was a subtle tool within Latin epistolary communication, and an analysis of letter writers' bilingual practices reveals their manipulation of language to manage relationships between peers and across hierarchical or political divides, uncovering the workings of politics and society. Comparative analysis of Roman and modern code-switching contributes to the debate on how bilingual strategies in letters evolve and how they relate to oral and literary language. The language of letters illuminates the Roman world and its entanglements with Greek language and culture.

Contents:

Language and life in letters

A Roman conversation? : code-switching in diachronic context

Republic of letters: the politics of Cicero's epistolary code-switching

Imperial relations: Greek and the lingua romana of Fronto and friends

The language of letters and beyond: Greek in Suetonius' biographies

Weaving together the threads: epistolary connections

Appendix: functions of the code-switches.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-324) and index.

Other Format:

Ebook version :

ISBN:

9781108480161

1108480160

9781108727105

1108727107

OCLC:

1100425712