L’ORALITÉ DES TEXTES DE L’ADMINISTRATION DU HAUT MOYEN ÂGE
ORAL TRADITION OF ADMINISTRATIVE TEXTS IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Summary/Abstract: Oral tradition of administrative texts in the Early Middle Ages. The aim of this article is to show how new approaches in diachronic linguistics contribute to the reflection on the orality of the Romance languages before these languages were put to writing. We trace marks of Latin/ Roman orality in a text written in Late Latin (even Medieval). Another goal is to demonstrate the importance of Medieval Latin texts as resources not only for historians but also for linguists. We also define the terms that appear in the title: orality, Early Middle Ages and administrative text. Access to a language spoken during that time allows us to better understand the passage from Latin to Romance languages. As for the new approaches in diachronic linguistics, we mention a recent publication of the Laboratoire de médiévistique occidentale de Paris, which clearly illustrates the synergy between linguists and historians in the field of the history of communication and linguistics. Finally, we show the example of the Italian charter of the eighth century which can be analysed in light of these new approaches – positive examination – and where we can see the traces of the spoken language – that can be named Legal acrolecte.

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