Editing Oscan language (section)

==Evidence==
[[Image:Osco diffusione.gif|290px|thumb|The Oscan language in the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE|alt=]]
Oscan is known from [[inscription]]s dating as far back as the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE. The most important Oscan inscriptions are the [[Tabula Bantina]], the [[Oscan Tablet]] or Tabula Osca,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sanniti.info/smagnony.html|title = Samnites Oscan Tablet of Agnone}}</ref> and the [[Cippus Abellanus]]. In [[Apulia]], there is evidence that ancient currency was inscribed in Oscan (dating to before 300&nbsp;BCE)<ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/teano-apulo_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/|title=Teano Apulo|website=[[Treccani]]|language=it}}</ref> at [[Teanum Apulum]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Salvemini Biagio, Massafra Angelo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DT-ODAAAQBAJ&q=osco+messapico+puglia&pg=PT23|title=Storia della Puglia. Dalle origini al Seicento|date = May 2014|publisher=Laterza|isbn=978-88-581-1388-2|language=it}}</ref> Oscan [[graffiti]] on the walls of [[Pompeii]] indicate its persistence in at least one urban environment well into the 1st&nbsp;century of the [[common era]].<ref>Freeman, Philip (1999). [https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=etruscan_studies The Survival of Etruscan]. Page 82: "Oscan graffiti on the walls of Pompeii show that non-Latin languages could thrive in urban locations in Italy well into the 1st century CE."</ref>

In total, as of 2017, there were 800 found Oscan texts, with a rapid expansion in recent decades.<ref name=McDonald_2017>{{cite web|last=McDonald |first=K. L. |date=2017 |url=https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/26433/McDonald%20K%20Fragmentary%20languages%20OA%20accepted%20version.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Fragmentary ancient languages as "bad data": towards a methodology for investigating multilingualism in epigraphic sources |pages=4–6}}</ref> Oscan was written in various scripts depending on time period and location, including the "native" Oscan script, the South Oscan script which was based on Greek, and the ultimately prevailing Roman Oscan script.<ref name=McDonald_2017/>

===Demise===
In coastal zones of Southern Italy, Oscan is thought to have survived three centuries of bilingualism with [[Greek language|Greek]] between 400 and 100&nbsp;BCE, making it "an unusual case of stable societal bilingualism" wherein neither language became dominant or caused the death of the other; however, over the course of the [[Roman Empire|Roman period]], both Oscan and Greek were progressively effaced from Southern Italy, excepting the controversial possibility of [[Griko language|Griko]] representing a continuation of ancient dialects of Greek.<ref name=McDonald_2017/>
Oscan's usage declined following the [[Social War (91–88 BC)|Social War]].<ref>Lomas, Kathryn, "The Hellenization of Italy", in Powell, Anton. [https://books.google.com/books?id=jW6GAgAAQBAJ&dq=Oscan+survival&pg=PA347 ''The Greek World'']. Page 354.</ref> Graffiti in towns across the Oscan speech area indicate it remained in colloquial usage.<ref name=Schrijver2>{{cite journal |last=Schrijver |first=Peter |title=Oscan love of Rome |journal=Glotta |date=2016 |volume=92 |issue=1 |pages=223–226 |doi=10.13109/glot.2016.92.1.223 |url=https://www.academia.edu/38399969 |issn=0017-1298}} Page 2 in the online version.</ref> One piece of evidence that supports the colloquial usage of the language is the presence of Oscan graffiti on walls of [[Pompeii]] that were reconstructed after the [[62 Pompeii earthquake|earthquake of 62&nbsp;CE]],<ref>[[Alison E. Cooley|Cooley, Alison]] (2002)."The survival of Oscan in Roman Pompeii", in A.E. Cooley (ed.), ''Becoming Roman, Writing Latin? Literacy and Epigraphy in the Roman West'', Portsmouth (Journal of Roman Archaeology), 77–86. Page 84</ref><ref>Cooley (2014). ''Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook''. New York – London (Routledge). Page 104.</ref> which must therefore have been written between 62 and 79&nbsp;CE.<ref name=Schrijver2/> Other scholars argue that this is not strong evidence for the survival of Oscan as an official language in the area, given the disappearance of public inscriptions in Oscan after Roman colonization.<ref name=McDonald_2012>{{cite journal |last=McDonald |first=Katherine |date=2012 |title=The Testament of Vibius Adiranus |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0075435812000044/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |language=en |volume=102 |pages=40–55 |doi=10.1017/S0075435812000044 |s2cid=162821087 |issn=0075-4358}}</ref> It is possible that both languages existed simultaneously under different conditions, in which Latin was given political, religious, and administrative importance while Oscan was considered a "low" language.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last1=Cooley |first1=Alison |last2=Burnett |first2=Andrew M. |title=Becoming Roman, writing Latin? : literacy and epigraphy in the Roman West |date=2002 |publisher=Journal of Roman Archaeology |isbn=1-887829-48-2 |oclc=54951998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaänänen |first=Veikko |date=1959-12-31 |title=Le latin vulgaire des inscriptions pompéiennes |publisher=De Gruyter |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783112537206 |doi=10.1515/9783112537206|isbn=978-3-11-253720-6 |s2cid=246734111}}</ref> This phenomenon is referred to as [[diglossia]] with bilingualism.<ref>{{Citation|last=Fishman |first=Joshua A. |title=Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism |date=2003-08-27 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203461341-12 |work=The Bilingualism Reader |pages=87–94 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203461341-12 |isbn=978-0-203-46134-1 |access-date=2022-04-09}}</ref> Some Oscan [[graffiti]] exists from the 1st century&nbsp;CE, but it is rare to find evidence from Italy of Latin-speaking Roman citizens representing themselves as having non–Latin-speaking ancestors.<ref name=McDonald_2012/>