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SUMMARY:Towards a probabilistic model of dialect classification: a case st
 udy from Ancient Greek. - Matthew Scarborough\, Faculty of Classics
DTSTART:20150512T121000Z
DTEND:20150512T130000Z
UID:TALK58825@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Duncan Needham
DESCRIPTION:The regional dialects of Ancient Greek (attested ca. 700 – 3
 50 BCE) have a complex geographical distribution.  These dialects\, howeve
 r\, can be classified into four principal subgroupings: Attic-Ionic\, Dori
 c\, Aeolic\, and Arcado-Cypriot.  The Attic-Ionic\, Aeolic\, and Arcado-Cy
 priot subgroups are normally considered to be genetic subgroupings\, that 
 is they are believed to form distinct clades descended from a putative Pro
 to-Greek ancestral to all the local dialects.  Some recent scholarship has
  argued against the genetic subgrouping of the Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot d
 ialect subgroupings using a hypercritical methodology.  In this talk I wil
 l argue that these views are methodologically flawed.  To counter these hy
 percritical proposals I propose that the traditional classification may be
  re-affirmed through quantitative analysis of the dialect features\, and w
 ill attempt to demonstrate this case through the development of a probabil
 istic model of dialectal subgrouping.  To do this\, I make an application 
 of this probabilistic methodology to the Arcado-Cypriot subgrouping\, by a
 pplying these methods to the Arcadian and Cypriot dialects of Ancient Gree
 k. \n\nBiography\nMatthew Scarborough is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. Can
 didate in the Faculty of the Classics (E Caucus: Philology and Linguistics
 ).  His Ph.D. dissertation is entitled "The Aeolic Dialects of Ancient Gre
 ek: A Study in Historical Dialectology and Linguistic Classification" and 
 is due to be submitted in 2015.  He holds B.A. (1st Class Honours) and M.A
 . degrees in Classical Languages from the University of Alberta\, Canada\,
  and has published articles and reviews on Ancient Greek linguistics and e
 pigraphy.  His principal research interests are in Ancient Greek dialectol
 ogy\, historical and comparative linguistics (primarily of but not restric
 ted to the Indo-European language family)\, language contact and socioling
 uistics in antiquity\, and the history of writing in the Ancient Mediterra
 nean.
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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