The Writing Culture of Ancient Dadan : : A Description and Quantitative Analysis of Linguistic Variation / / Fokelien Kootstra.

• Superior document: Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics Series ; Volume 110
• VerfasserIn: Kootstra, Fokelien, 1988-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands : : Koninklijke Brill nv,, [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Semitic languages and linguistics ; Volume 110.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource
• Other title: Preliminary Material /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references.
• ISBN: 9004512632
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Fokelien Kootstra.

This work focuses the social context of writing in ancient Western Arabia in the oasis of ancient Dadan, modern-day al-ʿUlā in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula between the sixth to first centuries BC. It offers a description and analysis of the language of the inscriptions and the variation attested within them. It is the first work to perform a systematic study of the linguistic variation of the Dadanitic inscriptions. It combines a thorough description of the language of the inscriptions with a statistical analysis of the distribution of variation across different textual genres and manners of inscribing. By considering correlations between language-internal and extralinguistic features this analysis aims to take a more holistic approach to the epigraphic object. Through this approach an image of a rich writing culture emerges, in which we can see innovation as well as the deliberate use of archaic linguistic features in more formal text types.