Cover not available
Part of
Pragmatic Approaches to Latin and Ancient Greek
Edited by Camille Denizot and Olga Spevak
[Studies in Language Companion Series 190] 2017
► pp. 113–136

Chapter 6
Constituent order in directives with stative verbs in Latin

| University of Santiago de Compostela

This paper considers constituent ordering in monovalent and bivalent constructions of two Latin stative verbs – sum ‘to be’ and fio ‘to become’ – when they appear in directives, assessing the degree of speaker-addressee interaction. We use Risselada’s classification of the different subtypes of directives based on the extent to which compliance with what the speaker expresses is obligatory. The findings reveal that, given (i) the difference in the number of arguments and in semantic content of monovalent and bivalent structures, and (ii) the incidence of modality (declarative/directive), the order of constituents different in each case. Furthermore, tendencies in constituent patterns are more uniform when expressions are more prototypically directive, although not in a wholly scalar way. Hence, the peculiarities or deviations observed require specific explanations, such as the structure of “world-creation”, the kind of proposal made, or the existence of expressions with different degrees of lexicalization.

Keywords: Latin, directives, pragmatics, speech act, stative verbs
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction. Objectives, structure, and corpus
  • 2.Illocutionary force and verbal mood
  • 3.Brief overview of research
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Monovalent constructions
      • 4.1.1‘Advice’ and ‘supplications’
      • 4.1.2‘Proposals’
    • 4.2Bivalent structures
      • 4.2.1‘Advice’
      • 4.2.2‘Proposals’
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.190.06cab
References
Babič, Matjaz
1992 Word order in Plautus: Interrogative and imperative sentences. Živa Antika 41(2): 56–63.Google Scholar
Bauer, Brigitte L. M.
2009 Word order. In New Perspectives on Historical Latin Syntax, Vol. 1: Syntax of the Sentence, Philip Baldi & Pierluigi Cuzzolin (eds), 241–316. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cabrillana, Concepción
1993 Posiciones relativas en la ordenación de constituyentes (I). Estudio de la posición de Sujeto, Objeto y Verbo. Habis 24: 249–266.Google Scholar
1994 Posiciones relativas en la ordenación de constituyentes (II). Estudio de la posición de Sujeto, Predicado nominal y Verbo. Habis 25: 451–460.Google Scholar
2001 Locative structures in constructions with sum . In De lingua Latina novae quaestiones, Claude Moussy (ed.), 275–290. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
2010 Consideración sintáctico-semántica de esse. Santiago de Compostela: University of Santiago de Compostela.Google Scholar
2016a Directives in Latin comedy: Pragmatics, dramatic role and social status. Journal of Latin Linguistics 15(2): 179–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016b Lexical domains in Latin predicative structures: ‘agentive’, fientive and stative types. In Latinitatis Rationes. Descriptive and Historical Accounts for the Latin Language, Paolo Poccetti (ed.), 312–331. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Devine, Andrew M. & Stephens, Laurence D.
2006 Latin Word Order. Structured Meaning and Information. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hengeveld, Kees
1992 Non-verbal Predication. Theory, Typology, Diachrony. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, Wallace M.
1907 Syntax of Plautus. Oxford: James Parker and Co. (reprint 2002, London: Bristol Classical).Google Scholar
Marouzeau, Jules
1910 La phrase à verbe “être” en latin. Paris: Geuthner.Google Scholar
Panhuis, Dirk G. J.
1982 The Communicative Perspective in the Sentence. A Study of Latin Word Order [Studies in Language Companion Series 11]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pinkster, Harm
1995 Sintaxis y semántica del latín. Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas.Google Scholar
2015 Oxford Latin Syntax, Vol. 1: The Simple Clause. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Powell, Jonathan G. F.
2005 Cicero’s adaptation of legal Latin in the De legibus . In Aspects of the Language of Latin Prose, Tobias Reinhardt, Michael Lapidge & James N. Adams (eds), 117–150. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ridruejo, Emilio
1999 Modo y modalidad. El modo en las subordinadas sustantivas. In Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española, Vol. II, I. Bosque & V. Demonte (eds), 3209–5321. Madrid: Espasa.Google Scholar
Risselada, Rodie
1993 Imperatives and other Directive Expressions in Latin: A Study in the Pragmatics of a Dead Language. Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben.Google Scholar
Salvi, Giampaolo
2011 A formal approach to Latin word order. In Formal Linguistics and the Teaching of Latin. Theoretical and Applied Perspectives in Comparative Grammar, Renato Oniga, Rossella Iovino & Giuliana Giusti (eds), 23–50. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Spevak, Olga
2004 Verb-subject order in Latin: the case of existential and locative sentences. Classica et Mediaevalia 55: 381–386.Google Scholar
2010 Constituent Order in Classical Latin Prose [Studies in Language Companion Series 117]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vairel-Carron, Hélène
1975 Exclamation, ordre et défense: Analyse de deux systèmes syntaxiques en latin. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.Google Scholar
de la Villa, Jesús
2003 Límites y alternancias de los marcos predicativos. In Praedicatiua. Complementación en griego y en latín, Anejo 53 de Verba, José Miguel Baños, Concepción Cabrillana, M. Esperanza Torrego & Jesús de la Villa (eds), 19–49. Santiago de Compostela: University of Santiago de Compostela.Google Scholar
Warner, Richard W.
1980 Word order in Old Latin: Copulative clauses. Orbis 29: 251–263.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Cabrillana, Concepción
2019. Expresiones directivas con verbos de uso copulativo en la comedia latina. Glotta 95:1 ► pp. 8 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 7 september 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.