Governing Body Fellow Publishes First Textbook on Latin Linguistics

Professor de Melo is a scholar of Latin, with particular interests in Plautus and the language of Roman comedy. Having taught for many years, Professor de Melo found that there was no single book that he could set his students that covered the intersection of Latin and linguistics. Plenty of introductions existed that treated one topic in isolation, but no volume geared towards Classics students discussed their intersection – a hugely important area which covers the reconstruction of Latin pronunciation, different speech styles, dialects, politeness, syntax and morphological change.

Professor de Melo took a year-long sabbatical in 2022 dedicated to writing new material to fill this gap, which was tested on outstanding graduate students at the University thanks to funding from Wolfson’s Ancient World Research Cluster. Latin Linguistics: An Introduction is the result, and provides an overview of the main areas of linguistics tailored to the needs of Latinists. The book was published in late December 2023.  

Professor de Melo is a Professor of Classical Philology at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies and has been a Fellow at Wolfson for over a decade. He is a member of the Ancient World Research Cluster.

For more information and to read the book, click here.