Early Greek Alphabetic Writing

A Linguistic Approach

Natalia Elvira Astoreca

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Hardback

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English

Oxbow Books
10 August 2021

Writing systems, alphabets; Classical history & classical civilisation

Series: Contexts of and Relations Between Early Writing Systems

Most scholarship on early Greek alphabetic writing has focused on the questions around the origin of 'the Greek alphabet', instead of acknowledging the diversity of alphabetic systems that emerged in Geometric and Archaic Greece. The research concerning the so-called epichoric scripts was introduced by Kirchhoff in the 19th century and saw its highest point in the 1960s with the works of Jeffery and Guarducci. Nevertheless, recent epigraphical finds and new possibilities offered by digital tools call for a revised, comprehensive study of these alphabets. Unlike previous research, which was mostly concerned with palaeography, this book presents a linguistic analysis of the epichoric alphabets that follows the latest trends in grapholinguistics and the methodology of comparative graphematics. The latter is a branch of writing systems research focused on the relationship between graphemes and the values that they represent and compares them across writing systems. This study compares the different Greek alphabets in their earliest stages, i.e. 8th and 7th centuries BC, also taking into account other contemporaneous alphabets, like those for Phrygian, Eteocretan and the Italic languages. Through the analysis of the data provided by the epigraphic texts dated within the chronological framework of this thesis, it is possible to identify the different notation systems that Greek-speakers devised to represent their dialects in writing. This brings new insights on the innovations created by these communities and the different alphabetic traditions present in Greece and across the Mediterranean. The conclusion of the book emphasizes the need to study these regional alphabets independently, rather than considering them as part of a unified entity - 'the Greek alphabet' - which did not exist at the time, and creates a new line for future research that intends to frame them individually within the ecology of ancient Mediterranean alphabets.

AUTHOR: Natalia Elvira Astoreca has recently completed her PhD at Cambridge on Early Greek Alphabetic writing as part of the CREWS project.

By: Natalia Elvira Astoreca
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: 5
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9781789257434
ISBN 10: 1789257433
Series: Contexts of and Relations Between Early Writing Systems
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 10 August 2021
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Chapter 1: The advent of alphabetic writing in Greece Chapter 2: A linguistic analysis of the early Greek alphabets Chapter 3: Greek alphabetic scripts Chapter 4: Vocalic notation in the epichoric alphabets Chapter 5: Consonantal notation in the epichoric alphabets Chapter 6: Conclusions

Natalia Elvira Astoreca developed her PhD thesis as a member of the CREWS Project. Before coming to the University of Cambridge, she studied at Leiden University and the Autonomous University of Madrid. Her research is focused on the interactions between language and script, especially in the case of early alphabetic writing in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.

Reviews for Early Greek Alphabetic Writing: A Linguistic Approach

I would recommend the book to scholars of Early Greek writing but also to grapholinguists of all backgrounds who are interested in the application of a diachronic comparative approach. * The Classical Review *