La geminazione di s- preconsonantica nella koinè scrittoria latino greca. Dati empirici e aspetti teorici

Abstract

This paper focuses on a phenomenon of the Latin-Greek writing koine, which has been given marginal space in the literature so far, namely the geminatio of the preconsonantal sibilant. A quantitative analysis aimed at illustrating the distribution of the phenomenon in the two writing traditions is conducted in § 2: a higher frequency of the phenomenon in the Greek documentation is observed, in both absolute and relative terms, and over a longer chronological span. In § 3, we explore the grapho-phonological value to attribute to this divergent spelling. The literature has pointed out that the phenomenon under investigation must be related to the tendency to heterosyllabification of the sC cluster. In this framework, other well-documented phenomena in the epigraphic-papyraceous tradition are analyzed, i.e., syllabic division of the <s/C> and </sC> types and the prosthetic vowel. Then, the analysis aims to emphasize how this spelling may be interpreted as a spelling strategy that signals the overlap between two principles of syllabic division, a phonological and a morpho-lexical one.