LINGUIST List 17.3330
Wed Nov 15 2006
Diss: Historical Ling/Syntax: Gianollo: 'Constituent Structure and ...'
Editor for this issue: Hannah Morales
<hannahlinguistlist.org>
Directory
1. Chiara
Gianollo,
Constituent Structure and Parametric Resetting in the Latin DP: A diachronic study
Message 1: Constituent Structure and Parametric Resetting in the Latin DP: A diachronic study
Date: 14-Nov-2006
From: Chiara Gianollo <gianollounits.it>
Subject: Constituent Structure and Parametric Resetting in the Latin DP: A diachronic study
Institution: University of Pisa
Program: Ph.D in Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2005
Author: Chiara Gianollo
Dissertation Title: Constituent Structure and Parametric Resetting in the Latin DP: A diachronic study
Linguistic Field(s):
Historical Linguistics
Syntax
Subject Language(s): Greek, Ancient (grc)
Latin (lat)
Old French (fro)
Language Family(ies): Indo-European
Romance
Dissertation Director:
Pino Longobardi
Dissertation Abstract:
This work is an attempt to give a formal account of the structure of theLatin Determiner Phrase (DP) within a framework of parametric typology andto detect, during the history of the language, some crucial stages whichprelude to future pan-Romance developments. In particular, this research isconcerned with facts related to word order within the nominal phrase, such as:
-Case position(s) within the DP and the mechanism of genitive Case checking.-Types of adjectival modification and ordering restrictions among adjectives.
This kind of investigation has a twofold goal: on the one hand, it aims toadd further evidence against the traditional descriptions of Latin grammaras characterized by a sort of unconstrained word order, by showing that theconstituent structure of the Latin noun phrase can be reasonably describedin the same terms than that of other ancient and modern languages. This ismade possible within the framework of a theory of principles and parametersof the nominal phrase, which is the outcome of an extensive typologicalsurvey over a wide sample of languages.
On the other hand, the aforementioned facts regarding the order ofgenitives and adjectives prove to be particularly interesting in adiachronic perspective: different stages of the language have beenanalyzed, in order to detect some crucial parametric changes from Classicalto Late Latin, which foresee subsequent developments in the Romancelanguages, and --most interestingly-- bear witness of a complex chain ofparametric resetting which is likely to have occurred also in otherIndo-European languages.
The investigation focuses on the distribution of genitive phrases andadjectival modifiers across a number of texts: for Classical Latin,Cicero's Ad Familiares letters and Petronius' Satyricon have been takeninto account; as for Late Latin, the Vulgata and the Peregrinatio Egeriaehave served as an empirical basis for the collection of data. Also some OldFrench evidence has been considered, by analyzing La Vie de Saint Alexis.
The main shift between Classical Latin and Late Latin concerns thedistribution of genitives: while in Classical Latin genitive phrases occur,evenly distributed throughout texts, both in pre- and post-nominalposition, in Late Latin genitives are consistently post-nominal. This factdoes not seem to correlate with any difference in Case morphology, as theCase system is substantially preserved in the texts under exam. Theproposed account, however, argues for a deep change in the syntacticmechanism of Case checking due to a reanalysis of the post-nominalconstruction, which is signaled by subtle evidence regarding theinterpretation of adjectives. These different stages are described in termsof parametric resetting, essentially in the spirit of the Principles &Parameters Theory; this way, Late Latin is shown to display somesignificant correspondences with Old French nominal syntax.
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