Chapter 2
The notion of dependency in Latin grammar in the Renaissance and the 17th century
Bernard Colombat | Histoire des Théories Linguistiques (UMR 7597), University of Paris
This article examines the links of dependency that are woven
between words or phrases in Latin syntax according to Latin grammarians
between 1500 and 1650. They establish a distinction between ‘convenience’ or
‘concord’ (agreement) and ‘rectio’ or ‘regime’ (government) depending on
whether an element controls another element or not. In fact, even in the
case of agreement, one element is mostly dependent on the other. We consider
the following topics from the perspective of the concept of dependency: the
definition and division of syntax; the rules of agreement and exceptions to
them; the evolution of the treatment of verbal government; certain
particular constructions in relation to the preposition, such as the
locative and the ablative which are claimed to be absolute cases; the syntax
of the relative pronoun; the syntax of the conjunction.
Article outline
- 1.The definition and division of syntax in the first humanist Latin
grammar
- 2.Agreement/concord
- 2.1How does agreement differ from government?
- 2.2Complex agreements: How to deal with the interdependency of heterogeneous
elements
- 3.The government of the verb
- 4.The evolution of the system
- 4.1The model built around transitivity
- 4.2Sanctius: Towards a model with simplified dependency rules
- 5.Particular syntactic structures and dependency
- 5.1Ablative absolute, locative and preposition
- 5.2The syntax of relative pronouns
- 5.3Can the conjunction govern? The notion of “improper concord”
- 6.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgment
-
Notes
-
References
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