Since the origins of modern linguistic studies (Weil 1844), the phenomenon of word order has been considered essentially semantic and syntactic in its nature. In parallel, the philological inquiry on classical texts has investigated the stylistic dimension: a fundamental attempt to reconcile the two perspectives was that of Marouzeau (1922). In the second half of the twentieth century, the perspective of typological linguistics was added, starting with Adams (1976), who tried to apply the universals of Greenberg (1963). Recently, the methodologies of functional linguistics have spread among the Latinists (Panhuis 1982; Spevak 2010, i.a.), and generative grammar has also proposed new syntactic investigations (Salvi 2004; Devine & Stephens 2006; Ledgeway 2012, i.a.). In the last years, the statements of ancient authors and the investigations of classical philologists on the importance of sound and rhythm in the composition of the sentence have found a linguistic formalization in the concept of “phonological movement” (Agbayani & Golston 2010, 2016). In this contribution we intend to further investigate the validity of this perspective, showing new evidence from the structure of the prepositional phrase, the phenomenon of alliteration, and the relationship between word order and prosodic clausulae in Cicero.
A new perspective on Latin word order: the role of phonology
Oniga Renato
2021-01-01
Abstract
Since the origins of modern linguistic studies (Weil 1844), the phenomenon of word order has been considered essentially semantic and syntactic in its nature. In parallel, the philological inquiry on classical texts has investigated the stylistic dimension: a fundamental attempt to reconcile the two perspectives was that of Marouzeau (1922). In the second half of the twentieth century, the perspective of typological linguistics was added, starting with Adams (1976), who tried to apply the universals of Greenberg (1963). Recently, the methodologies of functional linguistics have spread among the Latinists (Panhuis 1982; Spevak 2010, i.a.), and generative grammar has also proposed new syntactic investigations (Salvi 2004; Devine & Stephens 2006; Ledgeway 2012, i.a.). In the last years, the statements of ancient authors and the investigations of classical philologists on the importance of sound and rhythm in the composition of the sentence have found a linguistic formalization in the concept of “phonological movement” (Agbayani & Golston 2010, 2016). In this contribution we intend to further investigate the validity of this perspective, showing new evidence from the structure of the prepositional phrase, the phenomenon of alliteration, and the relationship between word order and prosodic clausulae in Cicero.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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