In Search of the Regional Diversification of Latin: Some Methodological Considerations in Employing the Inscriptional Evidence.

The aim of the project entitled “Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age” (http://lldb.elte.hu) is to develop and digitally publish a fundamental computerized historical linguistic database that incorporates and manages the Vulgar Latin material of the Latin inscriptions from the European provinces of the Roman Empire. In my paper, however, I do not present the Database (as this has already been done, in Adamik 2009), but instead I consider only the methodology of extracting regional variations from inscriptions, with reference to Adams 2007. In connection with this I will show that the methodology recommended by Adams 2007 does not really work whereas that established by Herman (meaning the last version, in Herman 2000a) is the most efficient, and yields a solid basis for building up the new Database

In Search of the Regional Diversification of Latin: Changes of the Declension System According to the Inscriptions.

In order to discover chronological and/or geographical differences in the Latin of the Roman Empire, this paper analyses the distributional structures of the nominal morphosyntactic ‘errors’ which have been to date recorded from Latin inscriptions and concern the changes of the declension system. Present investigation, which is based on the very methodology of József Herman, will demonstrate that Roman provinces (Moesia Inferior, Moesia Superior, Dalmatia, Venetia–Histria and Gallia Narbonnensis selected for survey) can show conclusive differences in the distribution morphosyntactic phenomena both chronologically and geographically, and that this way they can be classified dialectologically. According to the inscriptional material of later periods, Gallia Narbonnensis and Venetia–Histria can be classified as belonging to an area where the linguistic system has only two cases the same way as in Old French and Old Occitan, while Dalmatia displays a preform of the two case system of the Balkan-type. Regarding Moesia Inferior and Superior, it can be asserted that a three-case system emerged in both areas, but the lack of any inscriptional evidence from the later periods makes it impossible to determine the direction in which the three case-system would have developed: towards the Gallic type represented by Gallia Narbonnensis and Venetia–Histria, or the Balkan-type represented by Dalmatia

A számítógépes latin dialektológia műhelyéből: az esetrendszer átalakulásának területi különbségei a feliratos anyag tükrében

Jelen tanulmány a Császárkori latin feliratok számítógépes nyelvtörténeti adatbázisában rögzített névszói morfoszintaktikai, s azon belül is elsősorban az esetrendszer átépülésére vonatkozó adatok elemzésével foglalkozik azzal a céllal, hogy feltárja az egyes adattípusok belső megoszlásainak esetleges területi különbségeit. A Herman József által kidolgozott módszertannal végrehajtott vizsgálat kimutatja, hogy a kiválasztott római provinciák (Moesia Inferior, Moesia Superior, Dalmatia, Venetia–Histria és Gallia Narbonensis) szignifikáns területei és időbeli különbségeket mutatnak az esetrendszer fejlődésében. A kései szakaszukat tekintve Gallia Narbonensis és Venetia–Histria dialektológiailag egy olyan övezetbe sorolható, ahol a klasszikus nyelvváltozat öt esetéhez képest már csak két eset létezett, mégpedig az ófrancia és óprovanszál típus szerint. Dalmatiában viszont a balkáni típusú kétesetes névszóragozás előzménye mutatható ki. Moesia Inferiorban és Superiorban egy háromesetes rendszer alakult ki, de a késői feliratos anyag csekély volta miatt nem állapítható meg, hogy e két szomszédos terület milyen irányba fejlődött volna tovább: a Gallia Narbonensis-i és Venetia–Histria-i fejlődés által megtestesített galliai típus, avagy a Dalmatiai alakulás által képviselt balkáni típus irányába

Potential Greek influence on the Vulgar Latin sound change [b] > [β]: Dialectological evidence from inscriptions

This paper intends to investigate Greek influence on the Latin sound change [b] > [β] suggested occasionally in the literature by surveying not only the relevant linguistic data of Latin/Romance and Koine/Modern Greek but also the relevant literature and by involving and analyzing data sets recorded from 18 Roman provinces and the city of Rome in the Computerized Historical Linguistic Database of the Latin Inscriptions of the Imperial Age (cf. http://lldb.elte.hu/) by a more differentiated phonological approach considering external sandhi rules and in a chronological distribution more detailed than any applied before. In the end, the influence of Greek has been evidenced at least for some areas and especially for the early period (1st–3rd century AD), which is more important in this respect than the late period (4th–6th century AD), since then the merger can also be explained by developments in Latin itself beside a supposed external influence

The transformation of the vowel system in African Latin with a focus on vowel mergers as evidenced in inscriptions and the problem of the dialectal positioning of Roman Africa

Present paper intends to explore the process of the transformation of the vowel system as evidenced in the pre-Christian and Christian inscriptions of the Roman provinces Africa Proconsularis including Numidia and Mauretania Caesariensis. With the help of the LLDB-Database, the phonological profiles of the selected African provinces will be drawn and compared to those of six more territorial units, i.e. Sardinia, Hispania, Gallia, Dalmatia, the city of Rome and Bruttium et Lucania. Then the dialectal position of the selected African provinces will be described by various methods of phonological analysis regarding vocalism in both periods. It will be demonstrated how the selected African provinces did not form a homogeneous dialectological area. The vocalism of Latin in later Africa Proconsularis including Numidia turns out to be of the same type as of the later Latin in Sardinia, while the vocalism of the Latin in later Mauretania Caesariensis might have started to develop toward the eastern or Balkan type of vocalism. Regarding consonantism, especially the b-w merger, later Mauretania Caesariensis shows explicitly different trends from what we see in later Africa Proconsularis

Religion in Suetonius’ Life of Augustus

Suetonius describes the lives of Caesars according to categories such as antecedents, birth, career, achievements, morals, religion, appareance, and death. In my paper I examine the function of religion in The Deified Augustus of Suetonius. Firstly I list the places where phenomena concerning religion appear. Then I analyse the attitude of Augustus towards religions; e.g. he took dreams very seriously, and regarded certain auspices and omens as infallible. Suetonius treats the religious beliefs of Augustus long because he regards them as very important. Augustus wanted to enhance the sacred character of his principate, therefore he acquired membership in several priesthoods

Molecular Insights into the Distinct Mechanisms Regulating the TLR4 Mediated Activation, Shut Down, and Endotoxin Tolerance of the IL1B and TNF Genes

The first wave of the inducible gene network up-regulated by pathogen-stimulated mononuclear cells encodes a variety of effector proteins with pleitropic biological activities. This class of primary immediate early (IE) genes codes for potent pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines that play a prominent role during the manifestation of inflammatory response. In an attempt to better understand induction mechanisms for such genes, I have focused on those coding for human interleukin-1? (IL1B) and tumor necrosis factor ? (TNF), which exhibit both transient IE induction as well as cell-type restriction. Employing a combined approach using cell lines and primary cells, reporter transient transfection, chromatin conformational capture and immunoprecipitation, evaluation of transcript integrity, ectopic expression in a non-competent cell type, and comparison to mouse orthologs, I have determined that a complex array of mechanisms interplay in order to distinctly regulate the Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling-dependent induction of these two important pro-inflammatory genes whose deregulation provides the etiology for numerous diseases. Prior to induction, TNF exhibited pre-bound TATA Binding Protein (TBP) and paused RNA Polymerase II (Pol II), which are the hallmarks of poised IE genes. In contrast, IL1B is stringently regulated by long-distance chromosome gyrations, multistep activation through a unique doubly-paused Pol II which, in association with the monocyte lineage factor Spi1/PU.1 (Spi1), maintains a low TBP and Pol II occupancy prior to activation. Activation and DNA binding of the transcription factors C/EBP? and NF-?B resulted in de novo recruitment of TBP and Pol II to IL1B in concert with a permissive state for elongation mediated by the recruitment of the positive elongation factor b (P-TEFb). This Spi1-dependent mechanism for IL1B transcription, which is unique for a rapidly-induced/poised IE gene, was more dependent upon P-TEFb than was the case for the TNF gene. Nucleosome occupancy and chromatin modification analyses of the IL1B and TNF promoters, revealed activation-specific changes in chromatin marks that are supportive for nucleosome clearance and formation of nucleosome free regions (NFR). Furthermore, ectopic expression of Spi1, along with a TLR surrogate (over-expressed TNF receptor associated factor 6, TRAF6), in a cell line incompetent for IL1B transcription, is observed to prime the cell\u27s endogenous genome for IL1B induction by appropriately phasing promoter nucleosomes and recruiting paused Pol II in a manner reminiscent of that observed in competent monocytes. Here I report a novel connection between the metabolic state of cells and HIF-1? in regulating murine Il1b gene expression. With regard to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) unresponsive state known as endotoxin tolerance, my data revealed that following transient induction, IL1B and TNF remained marked with paused Pol II complexes for up to 24 hours post-stimulation. Upon subsequent LPS exposure, tolerized TNF remained in an unresponsive paused state, while IL1B resumed transcription due to recruitment of positive elongation kinase P-TEFb. Emerging evidence suggests that inflammatory responses of LPS/TLR4 activated macrophages are interconnected with metabolic pathways, resulting in the shift of energy utilization by the cells. Here I report that inhibition of either phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) or glucose metabolism had a greater affect on the transcriptional response of Il1b than of Tnf. The differences between these two genes, especially for endotoxin tolerance, suggest that il1b may play a distinct role from tnf in chronic inflammation

Bonae Memoriae József Herman: „Du latin épigraphique au latin provincial” Symposium zur Sprachwissenschaft der Lateinischen Inschriften.

Bericht über das Symposium zur Sprachwissenschaft der Lateinischen Inschriften "Bonae Memoriae József Herman: „Du latin épigraphique au latin provincial” Eötvös-Loránd-Universität Budapest, 11.–12. 09. 2008