On the Vulgar Latin merger of/b/and/w/and its correlation with the loss of intervocalic/w/: Dialectological evidence from inscriptions

Related to the summary of Adams (2013), the present study, first of all, solves the problem of how the absence of a linguistic change, in this case of the merger of/b/and/w/, can be evidenced in inscriptional corpora. For this purpose, two separate, yet interconnected methods, both suggested by J. Herman, are used and presented. By involving both methods in the analysis ofdata sets, recorded from a selection of Roman provinces in the Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions ofthe Imperial Age (http://lldb.elte.hu/), I will prove the adequacy and reliability of our inscriptional data for the B/V confusion. Furthermore, I provide data aboutfrequency of the merger of/b/and M in Latin over the centuries and in various regions, which gives a more realistic picture than any explanation before. Finally, a correlation between this merger and the loss of the intervocalic/w/evidencing the changefrom [w]to [ßjis detected and presented for discussion.