Outcome of language contact : Transfer of Egyptian phonological features onto Greek in Graeco-Roman Egypt

This summary presents the main findings of my Ph.D. dissertation (University of Helsinki) on the phonological transfer of Egyptian on second language Greek usage in Egypt.Peer reviewe

Outcome of long-term language contact : Transfer of Egyptian phonological features onto Greek in Graeco-Roman Egypt

In this work I have studied the language contact situation between Egyptian and Greek in Roman period Egypt. I have analysed the language use of a corpus written by Egyptian scribe apprentices, OGN I (Ostraca greci da Narmuthis), rich with nonstandard variation due to the imperfect Greek learning of the young scribes. I concentrated on finding Egyptian phonological influence from the misspellings of the vowels that displayed variation atypical for native language writers. Among the nonstandard features were, for example, underdifferentiation of foreign phonemes, the reduction of word-final vowels, allophonic variation that matched Coptic prosodic rules, and coarticulation of consonants on vowels. All of these linguistic characteristics can be found also in the near-phonetic nonstandard spellings of Greek loanwords in Coptic, which I used as parallel reference material. Studying the similarly phonetically-based orthographic variants in Arabic loanwords in Coptic from a later period gave me information on Coptic vowel qualities, by which I could confirm that most of the nonstandard vowel variation in the texts of OGN I was not related to Greek internal phonological development but Egyptian influence. During the project I began to suspect that there might have been an independent Egyptian Greek variety in existence, similarly to for example Indian English, with transfer features from especially the phonological level of Egyptian. I found enough conclusive evidence of a variety of this type to be able to continue research on it after the doctoral dissertation. In order to be able to obtain knowledge of the spoken level of these languages which are no longer spoken, I used modern phonetic research as my aid, and especially concentrated on loanword phonology. I believe I have found enough evidence of the methods of integration of these loanwords and foreign words into Egyptian to be able to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether loan adaptation is based on the phonological level or the phonetic one. I found evidence of both, quite often working simultaneously

Outcome of long-term language contact : Transfer of Egyptian phonological features onto Greek in Graeco-Roman Egypt

In this work I have studied the language contact situation between Egyptian and Greek in Roman period Egypt. I have analysed the language use of a corpus written by Egyptian scribe apprentices, OGN I (Ostraca greci da Narmuthis), rich with nonstandard variation due to the imperfect Greek learning of the young scribes. I concentrated on finding Egyptian phonological influence from the misspellings of the vowels that displayed variation atypical for native language writers. Among the nonstandard features were, for example, underdifferentiation of foreign phonemes, the reduction of word-final vowels, allophonic variation that matched Coptic prosodic rules, and coarticulation of consonants on vowels. All of these linguistic characteristics can be found also in the near-phonetic nonstandard spellings of Greek loanwords in Coptic, which I used as parallel reference material. Studying the similarly phonetically-based orthographic variants in Arabic loanwords in Coptic from a later period gave me information on Coptic vowel qualities, by which I could confirm that most of the nonstandard vowel variation in the texts of OGN I was not related to Greek internal phonological development but Egyptian influence. During the project I began to suspect that there might have been an independent Egyptian Greek variety in existence, similarly to for example Indian English, with transfer features from especially the phonological level of Egyptian. I found enough conclusive evidence of a variety of this type to be able to continue research on it after the doctoral dissertation. In order to be able to obtain knowledge of the spoken level of these languages which are no longer spoken, I used modern phonetic research as my aid, and especially concentrated on loanword phonology. I believe I have found enough evidence of the methods of integration of these loanwords and foreign words into Egyptian to be able to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether loan adaptation is based on the phonological level or the phonetic one. I found evidence of both, quite often working simultaneously

Willy Clarysse & Ana I. Blasco Torres (eds), Egyptian Language in Greek Sources : Scripta Onomastica of Jan Quaegebeur [Book review]

Non peer reviewe

The system of Coptic vowel reduction : Evidence from L2 Greek usage

In this paper I study Coptic vowel reduction through L2 Greek misspellings in Egypt from the Roman period onwards. Greek was the language of the government with mostly Egyptian scribes. In many cases, it is obvious that the nonstandard vowel replacements in Greek result from the Coptic tendency to reduce the quality of unstressed vowels to schwa. L2 Greek misspellings offer a glimpse into the system of vowel reduction in Coptic, evidence of which is not easily obtained language-internally. The misspellings are congruent with phoneme distribution in Coptic and can be verified by similar misspellings of Greek loanwords in native Coptic texts. Observed phenomena are the reduction of unstressed word-final vowels to schwa, stress-conditioned allophonic variation in round vowels, and consonant-to-vowel coarticulation word-medially.Peer reviewe

Variation within and among Writing Systems: Concepts and Methods in the Analysis of Ancient Written Documents. Edited by Paola Cotticelli-Kurras – Alfredo Rizza. LautSchriftSprache / ScriptandSound 1. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2017. [Book review]

Non peer reviewe

Tapaluokan vai foneemin sekaannus? L1 fonologian vaikutus verbin semantiikkaan

Abstract: The Greek texts from Egypt show extensive nonstandard vowel production, which could cause inadvertent confusion in e.g. Greek mood or case endings.This has previously been seen as evidence of a bad command of Greek, either because of internal phonological change or due to imperfect knowledge of Greek. On closer look numerous similarities to the nonstandard vowel production in Greek texts can also be found in native (Coptic) Egyptian texts. Greek loanwords in Coptic are treated according to Coptic phonological rules and show nonstandard vowel usage of the same nature that is present in Greek in some sociolects. The nonstandard spellings present evidence of underdifferentiation of Greek phonemes as well as transfer elements of the Egyptian prosodic system. The vowel usage is examined within the framework of L2WS (second language writing systems) studies, and evidence for the coarticulatory effect of the consonants on the vowels’ quality is drawn from the field of articulatory phonetics. Keywords: Ancient Greek phonology, Ancient Greek modality, Postclassical Greek, Coptic phonology, Language contactThe Greek texts from Egypt show extensive nonstandard vowel production, which could cause inadvertent confusion in e.g. Greek mood or case endings.This has previously been seen as evidence of a bad command of Greek, either because of internal phonological change or due to imperfect knowledge of Greek. On closer look numerous similarities to the nonstandard vowel production in Greek texts can also be found in native (Coptic) Egyptian texts. Greek loanwords in Coptic are treated according to Coptic phonological rules and show nonstandard vowel usage of the same nature that is present in Greek in some sociolects. The nonstandard spellings present evidence of underdifferentiation of Greek phonemes as well as transfer elements of the Egyptian prosodic system. The vowel usage is examined within the framework of L2WS (second language writing systems) studies, and evidence for the coarticulatory effect of the consonants on the vowels’ quality is drawn from the field of articulatory phonetics.Peer reviewe

EASY LANGUAGE FOR THE L2 FINNISH LEARNER : EASY ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS FOR ALL

Tässä artikkelissa tutkin maahanmuuttajille suunnatun viranomaistiedon antamista selkokielisessä muodossa. Aineistoni on peräisin selkomukautetun Perustietoa Suomesta -oppaan valmisteluprosessista, jossa S2-oppijat testasivat oppaaseen tulevien tekstien rakenteita. Opas suunniteltiin maahanmuuttajille, ja siihen koottiin tarpeellista tietoa Suomen hallinnosta ja yhteiskunnasta. Testatessa selvisi, että monet äidinkielisille käyttäjille tarkoitetut selkokielen rakenteet ovat maahanmuuttajataustaisille koelukijoille vaikeita, ja että S2-oppijat tarvitsevat tietyiltä osin omanlaistaan selkokieltä. Kielen rakenteisiin liittyvien haasteiden lisäksi tutkimuksessa nousi esiin muitakin viranomaistiedon jakamiseen liittyviä kysymyksiä, kuten kulttuurikohtaisen sanaston väärinymmärtäminen. -------- In this article I study administrative information given to immigrants that is written in an easy format. The material I use comes from the working process of the Life in Finland guide, which has been translated into easy Finnish. The structures of the texts planned for the guide, designed for immigrants and containing essential information on the Finnish government and society, were tested by second language (L2) Finnish learners. Testing revealed that many of the easy language structures designed for native language (L1) users were difficult for test readers with an L2/immigrant background. It became obvious that to some extent, L2 Finnish learners need an easy language form of their own. In addition to the challenges related to linguistic structures, the study also raised questions related to the distribution of administrative information; one of which was the misunderstanding of culture-specific vocabulary.In this article I study administrative information given to immigrants that is written in an easy format. The material I use comes from the working process of the Life in Finland guide, which has been translated into easy Finnish. The structures of the texts planned for the guide, designed for immigrants and containing essential information on the Finnish government and society, were tested by second language (L2) Finnish learners. Testing revealed that many of the easy language structures designed for native language (L1) users were difficult for test readers with an L2/immigrant background. It became obvious that to some extent, L2 Finnish learners need an easy language form of their own. In addition to the challenges related to linguistic structures, the study also raised questions related to the distribution of administrative information; one of which was the misunderstanding of culture-specific vocabulary.Peer reviewe

Egyptian Greek : A contact variety

Peer reviewe