Cover not available
Part of
Chapters of Dependency Grammar: A historical survey from Antiquity to Tesnière
Edited by András Imrényi and Nicolas Mazziotta
[Studies in Language Companion Series 212] 2020
► pp. 59–84

Chapter 2
The notion of dependency in Latin grammar in the Renaissance and the 17th century

| 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
Published online: 6 February 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.212.03col
References (36)
References
A. Primary source
Alexander de Villa Dei. (1893). Doctrinale. In D. Reichling (Ed.), Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica, 12. Berlin: A. Hofmann. (ca. 1200)Google Scholar
Aldo Manuzio [Aldus Manutius]. (1508). Institutionum grammaticarum libri quattuor. Venetiis: Aldo Manuzio. (Original work published 1493)Google Scholar
Arnauld, A., & Lancelot, C. (1676). Grammaire générale et raisonnée. Paris: P. le Petit. (Original work published 1660)Google Scholar
Álvares, M. (1596). De institutione grammatica libri tres. Cologne: A. Mylius. (Original work published 1572)Google Scholar
Behourt, J. (1651). Grammatica Johannis Despauterii Niniuitae, in commodiorem docendi & discendi usum redacta. Lyon: B. Coral.Google Scholar
Del Estal Fuentes, E. (Ed.). (1975). Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas Minerva (1562), Introducción y edición. Salamanca: Universidad (Acta Salmanticensia, Filosofía y Letras, 92).Google Scholar
Despauterius [De Spauter], J. (1537). Commentarii grammatici. Paris: R. Estienne.Google Scholar
Giovanni Balbi [Johannes de Balbis] (1460). Summa quae uocatur Catholicon. Mayence: s.n. (1286)Google Scholar
Guarinus Veronensis [Guarino Veronese]. (1497). Grammaticales regulae. Venice: P. Jo. de Quarengiis. Working edition (unedited) by W. K. Percival. (ca. 1418)Google Scholar
[Kerckmester, J.] (1486). Remigius, Regule. Münster: Johannes Limbourg [reprod. 1968, Geneva: Slatkine].Google Scholar
Lancelot, C. (16502). Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre […] la langue latine. Paris: A. Vitré.Google Scholar
(16533). Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre […] la langue latine. Paris: A. Vitré.Google Scholar
Perotti [Perottus], N. (1475 [1473]). Rudimenta grammatices. Venetiis: per Gabrielem Petri de Tarvisio. (Original work as manuscript 1468)Google Scholar
Pinborg, J. (Ed.) (1982). Remigius, Schleswig 1486, A Latin grammar in facsimile edition, with a postscript. København: Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Priscian [Priscianus Caesariensis]. (1855–1859). Institutionum grammaticarum libri XVIII ex recensione Martini Hertzii. In H. Keil (Ed.). Grammatici Latini (Vols. 2–3). Leipzig: Teubner. (ca. 526–527)Google Scholar
Ramus, P. [Pierre de la Ramée]. (1560). Grammaticae libri quatuor, editio tertia. Paris: A. Wechel.Google Scholar
Ramus, P. [Pierre de la Ramée]. (1564). Grammatica [latina]. Paris: A. Wechel.Google Scholar
Remigius, cf. Pinborg (Ed.), (1982).Google Scholar
Sanctius (1562). cf. Del Estal Fuentes (Ed.), 1975.Google Scholar
Sanctius [Sánchez de las Brozas], F. (1587). Minerva: Seu de causis linguae Latinae. Salamanca: J. Renaut & A. Renaut. (French transl. and edition by G. Clerio, Minerve. Lille: PUL, 1982)Google Scholar
Scaliger, J.-C. (1540). De causis linguae Latinae libri tredecim. Lyon: S. Gryphius. (French transl. and edition by P. Lardet, G. Clerico, B. Colombat, Geneva: Droz (THR 594), 2019.)Google Scholar
Scioppius [Schopp(e)], C. (1664). Grammatica philosophica. Amsterdam: J. Pluymer. (Original work published 1628)Google Scholar
Sulpitius, J. [Giovanni Sulpizio Verulano]. (ca. 1485 [1475]). [Grammatica] [incipit: Sulpicianum opusculum lege feliciter]. Neapoli: Francesco del Tuppo. (Original work published ca. 1470)Google Scholar
Vossius, G. J. (1695). Aristarchus, sive de arte grammatica libri septem. Amsterdam: P. & J. Blaev. (Original work published 1635)Google Scholar
B. Critical sources
Baratin, M. (1989). La naissance de la syntaxe à Rome. Paris: Éd. de Minuit.Google Scholar
Colombat, B. (1993). Les figures de construction dans la syntaxe latine (1500–1780). Paris & Leuven: BIG & Peeters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999). La grammaire latine en France, à la Renaissance et à l’Âge classique. Théories et pédagogie. Grenoble: ELLUG.Google Scholar
(2003a). La problématique de la ‘transitivité’ dans la tradition grammaticale latine. Quelques jalons de Priscien aux premiers humanistes. Histoire Épistémologie Langage 25(1), 153–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003b). Le traitement de la construction verbale dans la grammaire latine humaniste. In S. Auroux (Ed.). History of linguistics 1999 (pp.63–81). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ernout, A. & Thomas, F. (1964). Syntaxe latine. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Lavency, M. (1985). Vsus, grammaire latine. Gembloux: Duculot.Google Scholar
Law, V. (2003). The history of linguistics in Europe from Plato to 1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luhtala, A. 2020. Chapter 1. Syntactic relations in ancient and medieval grammatical theory. In A. Imrényi & N. Mazziotta (Eds.), Chapters of dependency grammar. A historical survey from Antiquity to Tesnière (Studies in Language Companion Series 212). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (this volume) DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Padley, G. A. (1976). Grammatical theory in Western Europe, 1500–1700. The Latin tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Percival, W. K. (1981). The place of the Rudimenta Grammatices in the history of Latin grammar. Res Publica Litterarum 4, 233–264.Google Scholar
(1990). Reflexions on the history of dependency notions in linguistics. Historiographia Lingustica 17, 29–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Gregov, Nicolas, Nicolas Mazziotta, F. Neveu, S. Prévost, A. Montébran, A. Steuckardt, G. Bergounioux, G. Merminod & G. Philippe
2024. Pour un diagramme raisonné en grammaire : modèle d’évaluation FCR et arbre dual. SHS Web of Conferences 191 ► pp. 07016 ff. DOI logo
Luhtala, Anneli
2020. Chapter 1. Syntactic relations in ancient and medieval grammatical theory. In Chapters of Dependency Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 212], ► pp. 24 ff. DOI logo
Mazziotta, Nicolas
2020. Chapter 4. Dependency in early sentence diagrams. In Chapters of Dependency Grammar [Studies in Language Companion Series, 212], ► pp. 134 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 september 2024. 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.