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About

I was awarded my Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (UK) in March 2017 for a dissertation on the linguistic prehistory and historical dialectology of the Aeolic dialects of Ancient Greek. Since October 2015 I have been also collaborating as a research associate with the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Jena, Germany) on a new database of Indo-European cognate relations. I am currently a postdoc on the project Connecting the Dots: Reconfiguring the Indo-European Family Tree at the University of Copenhagen.

My research interests can be subdivided into a handful of related topics:

  • Greek language and linguistics (from Mycenaean to the modern spoken language)

  • Ancient Greek dialect studies (from both literary and sub-literary sources)

  • Ancient Greek epigraphy and papyrology

  • Indo-European comparative linguistics and philology (including comparative myth and poetics)

  • Homer and other Early Greek poetry

  • Etymology and the Indo-European lexicon

  • Language classification, cladistics, and subgrouping methodologies in historical linguistics

Education

Ph.D. Classics, University of Cambridge (2017)

M.A. Classical Languages, University of Alberta (2011)

B.A. (1st Class Honours) Classical Languages, University of Alberta (2009)

Work Shared in CORE

Articles
Conference proceedings
Course material or learning objects
Bibliographies
Presentations

Other Publications

Monograph:

The Aeolic Dialects of Ancient Greek: A Study in Historical Dialectology and Linguistic Classification (under contract for Brill’s Studies in Indo-European Languages and Linguistics).

Articles:

2021. “Bactrian χϸονο ‘(calendar) year, (regnal) year'” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 31 (3) : 599-607.

2020. “Cognacy and Computational Cladistics: Issues in determining lexical cognacy for Indo-European cladistic research” In M. Serangeli & T. Olander (eds) Dispersals and diversification: Linguistic and archaeological perspectives on the early stages of Indo-European pp.179-208 (Leiden: Brill).

2017. “Studies in the Linguistic Prehistory of the Boeotian Dialect” Teiresias 47.1 : 14-24.

2015. “A New Edition of IG IX,2 69″ Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 193 : 166-171.

2014. “On the Phonology and Orthography of the Thessalian Mid-Long Vowels” 11th International Conference on Greek Linguistics (Rhodes, 26-29 September 2013): Selected Papers / Πρακτικά, ed. by G. Kotzoglou, K. Nikolou, E. Karantzola, K. Frantzi, I. Galantomos, M. Georgalidou, V. Kourti-Kazoulis, C. Papadopoulou & E. Vlachou, 1535-48. Rhodes: Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean.

Database & Digital Datasets:

Forthcoming. Anderson, Cormac, Paul Heggarty & Matthew Scarborough (eds.) Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. (with Matilde Serangeli) “Hittite” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. (with Matilde Serangeli) “Luwian” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Greek: Mycenaean” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Greek: Ancient (Attic)” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Greek: New Testament” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Greek: Modern Standard” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Latin” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Oscan” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Forthcoming. “Umbrian” To appear in Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR). Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Book Reviews:

2018. Review of Panayotou, Anna & Giovanbattista Galdi (eds.) 2017. Ἑλληνικὲς διάλεκτοι στὸν ἀρχαῖο κόσμο: Actes du VIe colloque international sur les dialectes grecs anciens. Nicosié, université de Chypre, 26-29 septembre 2011. (Leuven: Peeters). In Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018.10.28 (Open Access: link)

2013. Review of Giannakis, Giorgios (ed.) 2012. Αρχαία Μακεδονία: Γλώσσα, ιστορία, πολιτισμός. (Thessaloniki: Centre for the Greek Language). In Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.08.21 (Open Access: link)

2013. Review of Ferrara, Silvia. 2012. Cypro-Minoan Inscriptions: Volume 1 – Analysis. (Oxford: Oxford University Press). In Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.02.04 (Open Access: link)

2012. Review of Liesner, Malte. 2012. Arbeitsbuch zur lateinischen historischen Phonologie (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag). Past Imperfect 18 : 94-98 (Open Access: link)

Theses, Dissertations, etc.:

2016. The Aeolic Dialects of Ancient Greek: A Study in Historical Dialectology and Linguistic Classification. Ph.D. Dissertation, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. [Awarded 2nd prize for best dissertation in the field of Indo-European Studies for 2016-2017 by the Indogermanische Gesellschaft.]

2011. The Development of the Indo-European Syllabic Resonants Among the Ancient Greek Dialects. M.A. Thesis, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta.

2009. Selected Loan-Words in Mycenaean Greek: A Linguistic Analysis and Commentary. B.A. (Honours) Thesis, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta.

Popular Writings / Blog:

Consulting Philologist

Blog Posts

    Projects

    Indo-European Cognate Relationships Database (IE-CoR): A database of lexical cognacy across the Indo-European language family).

    I am also currently writing an ongoing series of blog posts as a general introduction to the main etymological resources that are available for Proto-Indo-European and the Indo-European languages aimed at generally interested, non-specialist readership, Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries for the Perplexed. I was originally aiming to try to write one of these per month until I had gone through all the branches of the Indo-European language family, but they’ve ended up taking more time than I anticipated. They’ll get done when they get done.

    Memberships

    Member, Indogermanische Gesellschaft, Germany

    Member, The Philological Society, UK

    Member, Linguistic Society of America, USA

    Member, Classical Association of Canada, Canada

    Matthew Scarborough

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    @mscarborough

    Active 2 months, 1 week ago