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University of Bologna
program: Tuesday, June 10 | Wednesday, June 11 | Thursday, June 12
Friday, June 13 | Saturday, June 14
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Elisabetta MAGNI, University of Bologna
Modality's semantic maps: an investigation of Latin
Modality is a valid cross-language grammatical category that can be the subject of a typological study. In this area, however, cross-language comparison has been a difficult task, for there is probably more variation in the ways in which languages deal with modality than with other categories. Moreover, synchronic typology is opaque without access to the relevant diachrony.
Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994) reconstructed the diachronic scenario in the modality domain, observing a sample of many languages and discussing the way grammatical meanings evolve on certain diachronic paths and along grammaticalization chains. They argued that, starting from a restricted set of semantic sources (i.e. lexical items that refers explicitly to concepts related to obligation, possibility, etc.) cross-linguistically similar paths for the evolution of grammatical meaning are predictable.
More recently, van der Auwera and Plungian (1998) supplied the grammaticalized expressions of modality with a semantic map, which is a geometric representation of cross-linguistically relevant synchronic and diachronic connections among pre-modal, modal and post-modal meanings or uses. Undoubtedly, these recent researches based on functional-typological models can cast some traditional issues in a different light.
In taking these findings to be my starting point, I will try to recognize some modal paths in Latin and I will propose a semantic map. Moreover, I will refer to the functional approach and to the description of mood and modality adopted in RRG. My investigation deals with modal markers working at the core layer, for there are many reasons to believe that they are more basic in a diachronic perspective. More specifically, I will consider some alternatives to the moods in expressions of possibility, permission, necessity and duty, proposing a detailed analysis of four verbs: possum, licet, debeo and oportet.
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.
Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca (1994) reconstructed the diachronic scenario in the modality domain, observing a sample of many languages and discussing the way grammatical meanings evolve on certain diachronic paths and along grammaticalization chains. They argued that, starting from a restricted set of semantic sources (i.e. lexical items that refers explicitly to concepts related to obligation, possibility, etc.) cross-linguistically similar paths for the evolution of grammatical meaning are predictable.
More recently, van der Auwera and Plungian (1998) supplied the grammaticalized expressions of modality with a semantic map, which is a geometric representation of cross-linguistically relevant synchronic and diachronic connections among pre-modal, modal and post-modal meanings or uses. Undoubtedly, these recent researches based on functional-typological models can cast some traditional issues in a different light.
In taking these findings to be my starting point, I will try to recognize some modal paths in Latin and I will propose a semantic map. Moreover, I will refer to the functional approach and to the description of mood and modality adopted in RRG. My investigation deals with modal markers working at the core layer, for there are many reasons to believe that they are more basic in a diachronic perspective. More specifically, I will consider some alternatives to the moods in expressions of possibility, permission, necessity and duty, proposing a detailed analysis of four verbs: possum, licet, debeo and oportet.
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.