Comparative and Classical Philology, and Historical Linguistics

Sound changes in Greek, Latin and Indo-European

Dr Peter Barber is finishing a book on evidence for Sievers’ Law in ancient Greek. Nick Zair is working on the reflexes of PIE laryngeals in Celtic, under the supervision of Prof Andreas Willi. Ranjan Sen is working on the Latin littera rule, under the supervision of Dr John Penney and Prof John Coleman.

Mycenaean Greek

Prof Anna Morpurgo Davies is co-editor of A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek
Texts and Their World (Louvain-la-Neuve/Dudley, MA), together with Prof Yves Duhoux (Université Catholique de Louvain). The first volume appeared in 2008. Prof Andreas Willi and Dr Philomen Probert have written complementary articles relating to the use of the Mycenaean j-series signs (both papers forthcoming in Glotta 2009). For Mycenaean archaeology in Oxford, see Dr Lisa Bendall’s website.

Greek and Latin syntax

Dr Philomen Probert is working on a book on the early history of ancient Greek
relative clauses. Florencia Nelli is working on demonstrative pronouns in early Greek dialects, under the supervision of Dr John Penney. Kate McLachlan is working on Latin word order, under the supervision of Prof Willi and Dr Probert. Luuk Huitink is working on reported discourse in classical Greek, under the supervision of Prof Andreas Willi. Evert van Emde Boas is writing a pragmatic commentary on Euripides’ Electra, under the supervision of Dr William Allan. Luuk Huitink and Evert van Emde Boas are collaborating with Prof Albert Rijksbaron (University of Amsterdam) on a new grammar of Classical Greek.

Ancient Greek accentuation

Dr Philomen Probert is continuing to work on ancient Greek accentuation, especially
ancient theory of the accent. Stephanie Roussou is working on an edition of [Arcadius]' epitome of Herodian's Peri Katholikēs Prosōidiās, under the supervision of Dr Probert and Mr Nigel Wilson.

Ancient Greek literary languages

Prof. Andreas Willi continues to work on the relationship between linguistic
form and literary content in Ancient Greek, concentrating on the question how
media also function as messages.

Greek, Latin, and Indo-European morphology

Roberto Ceolin is investigating the development of the nasal presents throughout the history of Ancient Greek, under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Willi. Prof. Willi is also working on a book about the Proto-Indo-European origins of the Greek verbal system, and he has recently cast a new look at the Umbrian weak perfect formation.

Greek, Latin, and Indo-European etymology

In a number of contributions Prof. Andreas Willi has addressed problems of Greek
and Latin etymology; these include recent and forthcoming articles on the
theonyms Demeter, Hera, and Juno Sororia.

Non-standard Latin

Dr J N Adams has written (among many other works) The Regional Diversification
of Latin, 200BC-AD 600 (CUP 2007) and Bilingualism and the Latin Language (CUP
2003) and has been awarded the prestigious Kenyon Medal by the British Academy.
He continues to work on all aspects of non-standard Latin. Veronika Nikitina,
Giuseppe Pezzini, and Christa Neudecker are working on related subjects under
his supervision.

Ancient Sociolinguistics

After his work on linguistic variation in Aristophanes and on language contact
in Ancient Sicily, Prof. Willi has most recently written on some methodological
issues regarding phenomena of language death in Ancient Italy.

Vedic Sanskrit

Dr Elizabeth Tucker is working on a new edition, with commentary and translation, of Book 11 of the Paippalada recension of the AtharvaVeda. She is also preparing revised editions of A.A.Macdonell, A Vedic Grammar for Students and A Vedic Reader for Students, for publication with OUP. John Lowe is working on Vedic participles under her supervision.

Historical Germanic

Professor Aditi Lahiri has just published on the development of the weak preterite from Old to Middle English and continues her research on the morphophonology of Notker's dialect of Old High German. Within a new grant from the British Academy, Professor Lahiri is working with Dr Johnanneke Systema on the prosodic characteristics of Middle Dutch and subsequent phonological changes into Modern Dutch. She also continues her research on the development of Scandinavian prosody, focusing on the relationship between Norwegian tone and Danish stød.