253Newer, Later, Lesser: The Evolving Language of Later Attic Comedy and its Ancient and Modern Appraisal

Ancient and modern scholarship has traditionally interpreted the language of later Attic comedy simply in diachronic terms, that is, as a document of the later stages of the Attic dialect. But although the playwrights of later Attic comedy do adopt some genuinely innovative linguistic features, the historical framework within which to interpret the language of later Attic comedy needs to be reconsidered profoundly. In this chapter, I argue that the language of later Attic comedy partakes of the major shifts that re-defined the parameters of literary Attic during the 4th century. This process resulted also in the admission into the literary language of several linguistic features that were previously actively avoided, among others, by the playwrights of Old Comedy. To support this new approach, the analysis of select linguistic features will help situate the language of later Attic comedy vis-à-vis the wider history of literary and non-literary Attic.