Teaching Delivery: This module is taught in 10 weekly lectures.

Content: This module aims to introduce students to the real-life Latin used on the streets in ancient Rome. We will look at slang, graffiti, and linguistic snobbery. We will discuss how the other languages spoken on the street by bilinguals had an impact on Latin, and we will explore, through examples and the students’ own research, how Street Latin ultimately developed into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian. The key topics we will cover across the ten weeks can be summarised as follows: Language labels: What is “Vulgar” or “Street Latin” as opposed to “Classical Latin”? Sources of Street Latin Phonetic development: vowels and consonants Inflections: declinations and conjugations Vocabulary: word formation, semantic development, loanwords An introduction to Romance linguistics.

Skills: Upon completion of the module students will be expected to have an understanding of: 1. What Street Latin is and how it differs from Classical Latin 2. How we know what Street Latin was like (what sources we have to study it) 3. The key characteristics of Street Latin 4. How we can study the history of the modern Romance languages. Students will work on the following skills: Conducting research using online resources and dictionaries, presentation skills, working independently and as part of a team, essay writing.

Module text: 

Adams, James N. (2007). The regional diversification of Latin 200BC – AD600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Adams, J.N. (2013). Social Variation and the Latin Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Grandgent, C. H. (1907). An Introduction to Vulgar Latin. Boston: D.C. Heath.

Herman, József (2000). Vulgar Latin. Translated by Wright, Roger. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press

Väänänen, Veikko (1981). Introduction au latin vulgaire (3rd ed.). Paris: Klincksieck

Wright, Roger (1982). Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France. Liverpool: Francis Cairns.

Wright, Roger (2002). A Sociophilological Study of Late Latin. Utrecht: Brepols.