Home
Announcements and Call for Papers
Participants
Abstracts
Program
Lodging
Publication
& Guidelines
What's new?
University of Bologna
program: Tuesday, June 10 | Wednesday, June 11 | Thursday, June 12
Friday, June 13 | Saturday, June 14
back to alphabetical survey:
Caroline KROON & Josselijn BOESSENKOOL, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The relationship between grammar and discourse:
evidence from the Latin particle quidem
One of the major issues in current linguistic research is the intricate relationship between grammatical structure and discourse structure, and the way both can be accounted for in one, encompassing, model of discourse (see e.g. Roulet et al., 2001; Hengeveld, 2002). A central problem involves the question whether and how such well known grammatical concepts as clause and sentence correspond to discourse units such as act and move, and, more specifically, the extent to which the smallest unit of discourse (called discourse act) coincides with the largest unit of syntax (the grammatical clause). Recent studies seem to indicate that, although acts and clauses are often coextensive, there is not necessarily a one-to-one relation between grammatical units and discourse units (e.g. Hannay & Kroon, to app.). In this paper we will illustrate the 'tension' between grammar and discourse by means of an account of the use of Latin quidem in a varied corpus of Latin texts (Caesar, Cicero, Livy, Plautus, Sallust, Seneca, Tacitus, Varro). On the basis of a number of remarkable and highly specific distributional properties of the particle (see Boessenkool, 2002), we will argue that quidem is often used as an explicit means to signal a 'tension' or 'mismatch' between the syntactico-semantic structure of a text segment on the one hand, and its discourse structure on the other. In the following example, for instance, the host unit of quidem is semantically and syntactically integrated in the predication set up by the predicate fefellit, but from a discourse structure perspective functions as an independent discourse act:
Multum te ista fefellit opinio, et quidem multis in locis (Cic. Ver. 1.88)
Such a description of quidem, we will argue, has a greater explanatory power, and does more justice to what we consider to be quidem's proper discourse function, than a description in terms of 'affirmation' (Kühner-Stegmann) or 'contrast' (Solodow, 1978). It also shows the linguistic relevance of distinguishing between grammatical structure and discourse structure and as such may provide empirical evidence for the theoretical assumptions mentioned above.
References - Boessenkool, J. (2002). Non radicitus quidem hercle, verum etiam exradicitus. Een onderzoek naar het Latijnse partikel quidem. MA thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
- Hannay, M. & C. Kroon (to appear). Acts and the relationship between discourse and grammar (paper read at the 10th International Conference on Functional Grammar. Amsterdam, June 2002)
- Hengeveld, K. (2002). The architecture of a Functional Discourse Grammar. In J.L. Mackenzie & M.A. Gómez-González (eds). A new architecture for Functional Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Roulet, E. et al. (2001). Un modčle et un instrument d'analyse et de l'organisation du discourse. Bern : Lang
- Solodow, J.B. (1978). The Latin particle quidem. Boulder Colo.: American Philological Association.
Most recent modifications: February 18, 2003 – latling@classics.unibo.it
Source: Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Medioevale
No rights can be derived from the information on this Internet-page.
Multum te ista fefellit opinio, et quidem multis in locis (Cic. Ver. 1.88)
Such a description of quidem, we will argue, has a greater explanatory power, and does more justice to what we consider to be quidem's proper discourse function, than a description in terms of 'affirmation' (Kühner-Stegmann) or 'contrast' (Solodow, 1978). It also shows the linguistic relevance of distinguishing between grammatical structure and discourse structure and as such may provide empirical evidence for the theoretical assumptions mentioned above.
- References
- Boessenkool, J. (2002). Non radicitus quidem hercle, verum etiam exradicitus. Een onderzoek naar het Latijnse partikel quidem. MA thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
- Hannay, M. & C. Kroon (to appear). Acts and the relationship between discourse and grammar (paper read at the 10th International Conference on Functional Grammar. Amsterdam, June 2002)
- Hengeveld, K. (2002). The architecture of a Functional Discourse Grammar. In J.L. Mackenzie & M.A. Gómez-González (eds). A new architecture for Functional Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Roulet, E. et al. (2001). Un modčle et un instrument d'analyse et de l'organisation du discourse. Bern : Lang
- Solodow, J.B. (1978). The Latin particle quidem. Boulder Colo.: American Philological Association.
Most recent modifications: February 18, 2003 – latling@classics.unibo.it
Source: Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Medioevale
No rights can be derived from the information on this Internet-page.