Degree
Master of Arts
Program
Classics
Supervisor
Professor Alexander Meyer
Abstract
Language is one of the most significant aspects of cultural identity. This thesis examines the evidence of languages in contact in Roman Britain in order to determine the role that language played in defining the identities of the inhabitants of this Roman province.
All forms of documentary evidence from monumental stone epigraphy to ownership marks scratched onto pottery are analyzed for indications of bilingualism and language contact in Roman Britain. The language and subject matter of the Vindolanda writing tablets from a Roman army fort on the northern frontier are analyzed for indications of bilingual interactions between Roman soldiers and their native surroundings, as well as Celtic interference on the Latin that was written and spoken by the Roman army. A similar approach is taken to the Bath and Uley curse tablets which reveal the wide range of Latin and Celtic literacy of Romano-British civilians.
Recommended Citation
Woodcock, Robert Jackson, "Language Contact and Identity in Roman Britain" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3775.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3775
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Indo-European Linguistics and Philology Commons