 the punic language, also called carthaginian or phoenicio-punic, is an extinct variety of the phoenician language, a canaanite language of the semitic family. it was spoken in the carthaginian empire in north africa and several mediterranean islands by the punic people from about 800 bc to 600 ad. the punics stayed in contact with phoenicia until the destruction of carthage by the roman republic in 146 bc. during the time periods punic was spoken, it underwent many changes under berber language influence. at first there was not much of a difference between phoenician and punic, but as time went on, and carthage and her colonies lost contact with phoenicia, punic began to become less influenced by phoenicia and more influenced by the local berber language of the area in and around carthage. the term neo-punic has two contested meanings. the first meaning refers to the more formal phoenician script. the second meaning of neo-punic is that neo-punic was the dialect of punic spoken after 146 ad, after the fall of carthage and after the roman conquest of the former punic territories. neo-punic, in the second sense, differed from the traditional punic language because it spelt out words more phonetically than the former punic language, and the use of non-semitic names, which were mostly of libyco-berber origin. the reason for this difference was the dialectal change punic underwent as it spread among the north-african peoples.http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oywnsuaslxyc&dq=neo-punic&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=j9-awj6so4&sig=ex7y6chqks5x8w98h2gypy4latc&hl=en&ei=0hwrsojgd9qrjafnopd4cg&sa=x&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=neo-punic&f=false neo-punic works include lepcis magna n 19, which dates back to 92 ad. by around the 4th century ad, punic was still spoken in tunisia, parts of north africa, and the mediterranean. the neo-punic alphabet also descended from the punic language. by around 400 ad, punic, in the first meaning, was mainly used for monumental inscriptions, while the cursive neo-punic alphabet was used elsewhere.http://www.omniglot.com/writing/punic.htm examples of punic literary works cover the topic of  mago, a punic general with great notoriety, who spread carthage's influence as much through writing boo
Carthage Extinct_languages_of_Africa Phoenician_language