Non- configurationality in diachrony: Correlations in local and global networks of Ancient Greek and Latin Non-configurationality in diachrony: Correlations in local and global networks of Ancient Greek and Latin (original) (raw)
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Non-configurationality in diachrony: Correlations in local and global networks of Ancient
Non-configurationality is a property of some languages associated with free word order, discontinuous constituents, including NPs, and null anaphora of referential arguments. Quantitative metrics, based both on local networks (syntactic trees and word order within sentences) and on global networks (incorporating the relations within a whole treebank into a shared graph), can reveal correlations among these features. We focus on diachronic varieties of Ancient Greek and Latin, in which non-configurationality tapered off in time, leading to the largely configurational nature of the Romance languages and of Modern Greek. A property of global networks (density of their spectra around zero eigenvalues) measuring the regularity in word order is shown to be strengthened from classical to late varieties. Discontinuous NPs are traced by counting the words creating non-projectivity in dependency trees: these drop dramatically in late varieties. Finally, developments in the use of null referential direct objects are gauged by assessing the percentage of third-person personal pronouns among verb objects. All these three features turn out to change in time due to the decay of non-configurationality. Evaluation of the strength of their pairwise correlation shows that null direct objects and discontinuous NPs are deeply intertwined. La non-configurationalité est une propriété de certaines langues, associée à l'ordre des mots libre, aux constituants discontinus et à l'anaphore nulle des arguments verbaux référentiels. Certaines
(Non-)Configurationality and the Internal Syntax of Adjectives in Old Romanian
This paper deals with three phenomena specific to old Romanian: prehead complements to adjectives (i.e., head-final adjectival structures), postadjectival degree markers, and discontinuous adjectival and degree phrases. Following recent work by Adam Ledgeway, we defend the hypothesis that the old Romanian adjectival phrase preserves relics of the head-final and non-configurational syntax of Latin. The fact that prehead complements of adjectives and postadjectival degree markers represent a genuine instance of head-finality (i.e., roll-up movement) is reinforced by the existence of discontinuous adjectival phrases (the hallmark of non-configurationality), discontinuous structures being unavailable in harmonic head-initial systems (Ledgeway, in press).
Caught in between: a synchronic and diachronic account of inter-prefixation in Latin.
This paper explores the patterns of inter-prefixation in Latin. By adopting a Cognitive Grammar perspective, I discuss how inter-verbs instantiate three basic spatial meanings, or schemas, that is, BETWEEN, INTERVALS and CENTER, to which additional schemas may be added. The chronological distribution and productivity of individual schemas is then assessed thanks to data from the LASLA corpus. I also explore various diachronic processes that have led from these spatial meanings to the creation of more abstract ones, chiefly temporal meanings. In addition, I focus on how synchronically lexicalized inter-verbs, e.g. dico ‘say’ interdico ‘forbid’, have historically come about. A diachronic perspective shows that, besides well-known dynamics of semantic change (e.g. metaphor, contextual inferences), analogy may have also played a role in the spread of inter-prefixation.
The Syntax-Morphology Interface in Ancient Greek. The Syntactical Properties of Morphemes
Mnemosyne, 2022
Even though syntax and morphology are generally taken to be distinct components of language, two morphological structures in Ancient Greek—denominal adjectives and compounds—possess syntactical properties in that their morphemes, rather than the whole words, participate in select syntactical processes. These phenomena, occurring at the boundary between syntax and morphology, ostensibly violate the generative Lexical Integrity Principle. Nonetheless, instances of such phenomena can be found in various Ancient Greek sources. These instances, traditionally treated as ad sensum constructiones or as syntactical mishaps, are not bereft of internal consistency, and in fact form their own well-organized subsystem and even obey an implicational hierarchy.
This journal article takes issue with the morphological structure of complex nouns in Old English. This stage of the language is characterised by a rich morphology and, with most of its lexemes being morphologically complex, Old English provides a fertile field of study for the kind of analysis here undertaken. The present study analyses the interaction between affixation, compounding, zero-derivation and inflection in terms of the feeding of the morphological processes, that is, the successive order in which they appear, thus allowing for the establishment of regular patterns of noun formation and generalizations on lexical creation. Overall, 119 different word structures have been identified, depending on the type and number of morphological processes involved. The conclusion is reached that non-basic nouns in Old English contain up to six levels of complexity, with the bulk of the formations consisting of three and four levels, that is, with three or four derivational steps taking place.
Vammala 1998 parts of speech. The statements concerning prefixes are mostly sensible: both Latin and Greek prefixes are as a rule easy to separate from the word, many of them also being identical to prepositions or adverbs. Because of this, prefxation is close to compounding. Of the Latin prefixes , cunt (com), per and ante are found as prepositions too, while v¿-, so-, the privative in-, and disand re(d)are never found alone. In Greek, for example npo-, aer-and eù-are found alone as well as in the function of The philosophical tradition had a decisive role in the analysis of single words. As referred to earlier, the conceptual, basicly Platonian or Stoic, etymology ignored the formal characteristics of derivatives since its main interest was to establish a link between language and reality. As will be evident in the course of the present study, the Stoic influence on all grammatical study cannot be ignored. The Stoic theory of the origin of 17 On the relation of Greek and Roman grammar, see e.g. Desbordes (1988); see also Romeo & Tiberio (1971,26 ff.). l8 The Homeric words, derivatives included, were the reference material in Greek grammar: in the beginning Homer's language had been the object in itself but later it became, rather, a store of examples. From the 2nd century B.C. onwards it becomes difficult to separate the philological tradition from the grammatical one (see Baratin & Desbordes 1981, 35). DERIVATION: GREEK AND ROMAN VIEws oN woRD FORMATION 15
On the borderline between lexicon and grammar: Confixes in Modern Greek and Italian
This article examines confixes, a type of word-forming elements between lexical stems and affixes. While confixes carry lexical meaning, confixing changes the constituent order in the word so that the internal word structure resembles the constituent order typical of derivation. It is argued that grammaticalization theory is an appropriate theoretical framework for the study of confixes because of its ability to describe the emergence of grammar under historical and contextual pressures. It is shown that confixes represent incipient grammaticalization and that their study from this point of view challenges the langue–parole and synchrony–diachrony dichotomies.
In this paper, we challenge the widespread view that the distinction between endocentric and exocentric compounds is fundamentally semantic. On the basis of data from Greek and Cypriot we propose, instead, that this is a structural distinction and that semantics cannot be a safe criterion for classifying exocentric compounds into various categories. We show that morphological features, e.g. gender and inflection class, cannot define exocentricity, since both Greek and Cypriot have many endocentric compounds displaying different features from those of their head. We suggest that exocentricity might be an epiphenomenon of the order of application of the word-formation processes, according to which, when compounding and derivation co-occur within the same morphologically-complex item, compounding precedes derivation. In contrast, a structure is endocentric, if it contains only compounding, or involves derivation and compounding, in this particular order. Finally, we provide evidence that exocentric compounds may belong to the productive word-formation mechanism.