Reti sociali e identità linguistiche. Un’analisi quantitativa della comunità dialettofona di Aspendos in età ellenistica

This study introduces an innovative methodology for examining a corpus of epigraphic documents through Social Network Analysis (SNA), with a case-study of the Hellenistic funerary inscriptions from Aspendos in Pamphylia (3rd–1st centuries BCE). The work pursues two main objectives: first, to explore the internal linguistic variability within the community represented by this funerary documentation and the interaction between linguistic and extralinguistic features; second, to demonstrate both the potential and the challenges of applying SNA to datasets of ancient and largely fragmentary documents. The findings reveal that SNA can help find connection patterns between linguistic traits and non linguistic choices within communities characterized by strong social relationships. Notably, the process of koineization in the language used in these inscriptions does not appear directly linked to the ethnic origin of the names in the local dialectal repertoire, whether Greek or Anatolian. Instead, areas of the network dominated by panhellenic or extra-dialectal anthroponyms exhibit greater linguistic convergence toward the koine.