Editing Oscan language (section)

===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/>