Bilingualism and Diglossia in Late Antique Syria and Mesopotamia

Abstract

Abstract This chapter investigates the nature and consequences of language contact, bilingualism, and diglossia in Syria and Mesopotamia during the late antique period, focusing particularly on evidence for Greek-Aramaic interaction. Evidence for this contact is drawn primarily from the Greek and Syriac inscriptions of north Syria, bilingual Palmyrene inscriptions, and early Syriac literature, because each of these raises a number of distinct questions and theoretical issues. In late antique Syria and Mesopotamia, the experience of Aramaic-Greek linguistic contact was almost universal, although there was considerable variation in the local circumstances. In north Syria, the local Aramaic dialects were widely spoken but rarely written down, whereas to the north (Edessa), to the east (Ilatra, Palmyra, and Babylon), and to the south (Nabataea, as well as the Palestinian Jewish and Christian communities) there were well-established literary dialects of Aramaic.

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