Dr. Dalia Pratali Maffei (PhD Cantab.) holds a Bachelor (2016) and Master degree (2018) in Classics, both obtained at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, supervised by Pr. Olga Tribulato. She also holds a diploma from Ca' Foscari International College in Global Asian Studies. During her Master, she spent one year at UCL (University College London) as Erasmus+ student, and then she moved to the UK for her PhD, at the University of Cambridge (2029 - 2023). During her PhD, she was a visiting researcher at HiSoMa, Lyon (March 2022) and a DAAD researcher at the University of Würzburg (April - July 2022).

Dalia's research interests include dialectology, contact- and historical sociolinguistics, metalinguistics, epigraphy, and computational linguistics. She currently works on Ancient Greek Linguistics, specifically on Greek dialects, their variation and mixture in time, space, and different contexts. Her PhD project, supervised by Pr. James Clackson and Pr. Richard Hunter, investigated how literary and spoken varieties interact in inscribed poetry (Thesis title: The Dialect of Hellenistic Inscribed Epigrams from Doric-Speaking Areas). Her posdoctoral project is titled 'Sociolinguistic variation in Ancient Greek dialects: mapping the contact between Doric and Koine' (generously funded by FWO, supervised by Pr. Klaas Bentein). Her research will focus on dialectal contact and change in the Hellenistic age, to understand what linguistic and contextual factors can explain the disappearance of Ancient Greek dialects, and to assess the importance of these factors in the history of the Greek language.

Projecten

Projecten als postdoctoraal medewerker

Sociolinguistic variation in ancient Greek dialects. Mapping the contact between Doric and Koine Greek (2023 - 2026)

Publicaties

Meest recente publicaties

Volledige bibliografie

Onderwijs

Course coordinator

Niet-literaire Oudgrieksen teksten (2025)

Guest lecturer

‘Private Life: Inscriptions between Prose and Poetry’ (2024, 'Niet-literaire Oudgrieksen teksten' course)

OIKOS Course, PhD training. Greek Linguistics: An introduction to the historical sociolinguistics of Ancient and Medieval Greek – Gent, BE

‘Greek Dialects in the Archaic and Classical Ages: Sociolinguistic Approaches’ (2023, 2024)

Previous teaching experience:

Lecturer

Ancient Greek Basic’ course (University of Cambridge, Language Centre – Cambridge, UK, 2023)

Guest Lecturer

‘The «So What» Question’ (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, MA Course ‘Storia della Lingua Greca’ - Venice, IT, 2023)

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Greek and Latin Reading Classes (University of Cambridge, Faculty of Classics – Cambridge, UK, 2021, 2022)

Supervisor

Greek language and Greek and Latin Linguistics (Jesus College Cambridge University of Cambridge,– Cambridge, UK, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)

Tutor

Course ‘Public and Private in Venice, in the Renaissance and Beyond’ (Ca’ Foscari – Harvard Summer School – Venice, IT, 2018)

Aankondigingen

Organisation of Conferences and Seminars

Conference chair

Multilingual Literary Practices in a Multicultural World, From Archaic Greece to the Byzantine Empire, Academia Belgica – Rome, IT, November 2023

PIER, Proto-Indo-European Reconstruction: Problems, possibilities and new perspectives, University of Cambridge – Cambridge, UK, October 2021

Panel organiser

‘Ancient Corpus Languages and Influences from Above and from Below’. 12th HiSoN (Historical Sociolinguistics Network) Conference – Brussels, BE, May 2023

Seminar organiser

‘La langue de la poésie épigraphique hellénistique’, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Centre HiSoMA – Lyon, FR (March 2022)

Seminar convenor

GIS, Graduate Interdisciplinary Seminar, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Classics – Cambridge, UK (OCtober - December 2021)

Talks at Conferences and Seminars

Multi-dialectalism and the vernacular in a Coan epigram (Multilingual Literary Practices in a Multicultural World, from Archaic Greece to the Byzantine Empire – British Academy in Rome, Rome, IT) (14–15 November 2023)

The Dialects of Ancient Greek Inscribed Poetry: Sociolinguistic Approaches (EVWRIT Reading Group – University of Gent, Gent, BE) (9 November 2023)

Coan Hellenistic inscribed epigrams: between dialectal regularisation and local influence (Perceptions and social uses of the Ancient Greek dialects International Conference – University of Oxford, Oxford, UK) (20–21 September 2023)

The negotiation of literary norms in Hellenistic Inscribed Epigrams: the Peloponnese as case-study (14th Celtic Conference in Classics – University of Coimbra, Coimbra, SP) (14 July 2023)

Doric features in Hellenistic Inscribed Epigrams: bridging literature and the vernacular (Oxford Cambridge Philology Day – Jesus College, Cambridge, UK) (24 June 2023)

Hellenistic inscribed epigrams: between supra-regional regularisation and regional influence (12th Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference – University of Brussels, Brussels, NL) (31 May–2 June 2023)

The dialect of Hellenistic inscribed epigrams from Doric-speaking areas (Indoeuropaische Oberseminar – University of Würzburg, Würzburg, DE) (30 May 2022)

Dans les épigrammes inscrites : les régions doriennes comme cas d'étude (La langue de la poésie épigraphique hellénistique – Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Centre HiSoMA, Lyon, FR) (23 March 2022)

Dialect variation in Hellenistic epigrams: reassessing Manuscript variants in Callimachus’ epigrams through inscribed sources (COLIGA, Contacts linguistiques en Grèce ancienne: diachronie et synchronie. Colloque International. 7-9 Avril – Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Centre HiSoMA, Lyon, FR) (9 April 2021)

Disentangling Language Variation in Hellenistic epigrams. A case study (Linguistics Research Seminar – University of Cambridge, Faculty of Classics, Cambridge, UK) (11 November 2020)

Linguistic Landscape as a tool for understanding Urban spaces: the non-places London and Paris International Train Station (The Transcultural Production of Urban Spaces in Eurasia – Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, IT) (20 February 2019)

The Inscribed Epigrams of Hellenistic Sicily: a Sociolinguistic Approach (PGWIP, Postgraduate Work in Progress Seminar – ICS, Institute of Classical Studies, London, UK) (8 February 2019)

Presentation of Manuscript (Contra Latinos et Adversos Graecos, Palaeography Seminar – Marciana Library, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, IT) (15–16 December 2016)

Outreach: blog Publications and Presentations

Pratali Maffei, D. A Thousand Years of Dialects in Ancient Crete. Lesson for the Griekenlandcentrum, Universiteit Gent – BE (06 November 2024)

Pratali Maffei, D. How to thank the gods. ‘Religious Language’ in Greek Verse Inscriptions?. Article in ‘Everyday Writing. Now and then’ blog. https://www.evwrit.ugent.be/how-to-thank-the-gods-religious-language-in-greek-verse-inscriptions/ (12 November 2023)

Pratali Maffei, D. Cos’hanno in comune i soldi con pecore, oche e sale. Article in student blog ‘Linea 20’, etymologies column. https://linea20.blog/2019/09/20/coshanno-in-comune-i-soldi-con-pecore-oche-e-sale/ (20 September 2019)

Pratali Maffei, D. Che sapore ha l'intelligenza?. Article in student blog Linea 20, etymologies column. https://linea20.blog/2018/12/10/che-sapore-ha-lintelligenza/ (10 December 2018)

Pratali Maffei, D. Il contadino che c'è in te. Article on student blog ‘Linea 20’, etymologies column. https://linea20.blog/2017/05/18/il-contadino-che-ce-in-te/ (18 May 2017)

Pratali Maffei, D. I bianchi degli antichi. Article in student blog Linea 20, etymologies column. https://linea20.blog/2017/05/04/i-bianchi-degli-antichi/ (04 May 2017)

Other activities

Rapporteur for PhD defense in Ancient Greek Linguistics Universiteit Gent – Gent, BE (2024)

Guest editor, Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics, Special issue (2024)

Interviewer for Undergraduate admissions in Classics, University of Cambridge, Jesus College, Murray Edwards College, Faculty of Classics – Cambridge, UK (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)