Interferenza grafemica ed interferenza linguistica nella Sicilia antica

A crossroads between several cultures for its whole history, ancient Sicily offers a unique field of study for those interested in language contact. In spite of the great graphic homogeneity characterizing the island in antiquity, with the Greek alphabet emerging as the most widespread writing system, it is possible to detect traces of graphemic interference from other writing habits, which often serve as an indicator of linguistic interference too. Case-studies pertaining to the contact between Greeks and Sicels, Greeks and Elymians, and Greeks and Romans are examined in light of the wider sociolinguistic questions concerning the motivations behind the borrowing of a writing system on the part of peoples such as the Sicels and the Elymians, and the meaning of the spread of certain linguistic structures (e.g. the ownership formula) from one culture to another.