Events 2nd Conference on Comparative Punctuation Worldwide 2023

Second conference on Comparative Punctuation Worldwide (Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, 22nd-24th September 2023)

Luca Rigobianco, Syllabic punctuation in the Etruscan and Venetic writing traditions as evidence for a syllable-based literacy training

 

This paper focuses on the use of syllabic punctuation in the Etruscan and Venetic writing systems, attested in the Italian peninsula during the first millennium BC. Specifically, it aims on the one hand to describe the functioning of such a punctuation system as well as the teaching practices which underlie it. On the other hand, it aims to show that similar teaching practices are also found within other ancient and modern writing traditions, both alphabetic and non-alphabetic.

Etruscan inscriptions are written with an alphabet deriving from a western Greek model. Some Etruscan inscriptions from southern Etruria and Campania dating from the end of the 7th century BC to the middle of the 5th century BC show syllabic punctuation, that is to say basically the use of one or more dots to signal vowels and consonants which do not fit the CV syllabic structure (see, for example, mine muluvene a.vile a.c.vil.nas.̀ ‘Avile Acvinals gave me’, where dots are placed after all letters which do not fit the aforementioned structure). From the end of the 6th century BC onwards, syllabic punctuation is introduced in the Venetic writing system, which is based on an Etruscan model. The use of syllabic punctuation in Venetic inscriptions is very extensive, since it becomes an actual ethnic marker.

The finding of ancient votive copies of Venetic writing tablets has shed light on the teaching practices which underlies syllabic punctuation. Specifically, syllabic punctuation depends on a syllable-based literacy training which starts with syllables of the CV type and then moves on to more complex syllables (CCV, CVC, etc.). Such a training finds a parallel in other ancient and modern writing traditions, as shown by direct and indirect evidence. This is the case, for example, of the so-called syllabic method in modern and contemporary Western.

In light of the above, the paper will contribute to drawing an overall typological picture of punctuation through the description of a unique and relatively little-known punctuation device. Furthermore, it will contribute to examining the relationship between different writing and punctuation systems and literacy training.

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