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Latin Grammars in Transition, 1200 - 1600
Edited by Anneli Luhtala and Mark E. Amsler
[Historiographia Linguistica 44:2/3] 2017
► pp. 228–254
Articles / Aufätze

Syntax in the earliest Latin-Portuguese grammatical treatises

| Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro

This essay analyses the most central concepts of Latin syntactical theory in the earliest pedagogical grammars written in Portugal during the 14th and 15th centuries, namely concord, government, and transitivity. The sources include two unpublished treatises preserved in manuscripts of Portuguese origin, one from the end of the 14th century and the other dated 1427, and the first grammar printed in Portugal (1497). They are representative of the teaching of Latin in Portugal at different levels of learning. All three treatises use the vernacular as a pedagogical aid, and Pastrana’s grammar also employs images to illustrate the main syntactical concepts. All treatises discuss government using the regular medieval terminology of regere “to govern” and regi “to be governed”. Like in Spanish, Italian and English grammars of Latin, the three concords belong to the basic syntactical doctrine. The major difference between these textbooks lies in their employment of the concept of transitivity. It is little more than mentioned in the two manuscripts, but highly relevant in the printed grammar.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Reglas pera enformarmos os menỹos en latin
    • 2.1Syntactical concepts
    • 2.2The rules of ‘concord’
    • 2.3The treatment of government
    • 2.4The treatment of ‘transitivity’
  • 3.Hic incipiunt notabilia que fecit cunctis
    • 3.1 Syntactical concepts in the Notabilia
    • 3.2 ‘Concord’ in the Notabilia
    • 3.3 ‘Government’ in the Notabilia
    • 3.4 ‘Transitivity’ in the Notabilia
  • 4. Grammatica of Juan de Pastrana
    • 4.1 Syntactical Concepts in Pastrana’s Grammatica
    • 4.2Pastrana’s treatment of ‘construction’
    • 4.3‘Government’ in Pastrana’s Grammar
    • 4.4Pastrana’s discusson of ‘transitivity’
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 May 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00003.fer
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Cited by 1 other publications

Fernandes, Gonçalo
2017. Sources of theNotabilia(1427), a medieval handwritten grammatical treatise from the Portuguese monastery of Alcobaça. Folia Linguistica 51:s38-s1 ► pp. 75 ff. DOI logo

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