Vowel syncope in ancient Italy

• Grant number: 14/26156-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: March 16, 2015
• End date: July 15, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Languages
• Principal Investigator: José Marcos Mariani de Macedo
• Grantee: Jasmim Sedie Drigo
• Supervisor: Michael Weiss
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Cornell University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/09069-3 - Syncope in the languages of Ancient Italy, BP.MS

Abstract

An interesting phonological phenomenon that is recurrent in Latin, Oscan-Umbrian and Etruscan is vowel syncope. The possibility of this similarity being a regional phenomenon has not yet been properly analyzed, for there are very few scholars who study vowel syncope taking into account all major languages of Ancient Italy.Sabellic is a key point in the research because there are several examples of vowel syncope and because it is possible to identify solid triggers for the phenomenon: according to Nishimura (2008: 159-163), labial contexts is one of them. Cases from Etruscan (in spite of being a non-Indo-European language), Faliscan and other minor Italic languages can help understanding vowel syncope in Ancient Italy.The main purposes of this work, which is a part of my dissertation research, are: 1) To improve the Sabellic part of the research with supervision of an expert in Sabellic languages; 2) To insert the research in the international academic ground; 3) To discuss the work with several scholars in academic events; 4) To have access to essential bibliography, which cannot be found in Brazil. (AU)