LINGVARUM VARIETAS

The inscriptions on Kafizin vases (Cyprus, 225-218 BC) were engraved by a group of pot- ters and textile workers which were characterised by intimate relations among them, as to be defined a real ‘social group’. The use of Cypriot dialect (on the vases), written in the traditional syllabic writing is a real identity act, since the prevailing/widespread language was the Hellenistic koinè (written in alphabet). In light of this sociolinguistic picture, some products of language contact between the two codes present in the social repertoire are analysed. Among the contact phenomena found in the speakers’ discourse, a case of code-switching is investigated; as the products found in the language, mixed forms and the case of nasals in pre-consonant position are examined; as this example, in Kafizin data the premises for analysing the nasals of neo-Cypriot dialect were individuated.