In the construction known as left-dislocation, an element appears in a fronted position, before the clause to which it belongs, usually introducing the topic of the sentence. Based on a detailed analysis of syntax, information structure and pragmatic organization, this study explores how left-dislocation is used in republican Latin comedy, prose and inscriptions as a device to introduce topics or other pragmatically prominent elements. Taking into consideration especially relative clause syntax and constraints of each text type, Hilla Halla-aho shows that, in the context of early Latin syntax and the evolving standards of the written language, left-dislocation performs similar functions in dramatic dialogue, legal inscriptions and archaic prose.
Author(s): Hilla Halla-aho
Series: Amsterdam Studies in Classical Philology 28
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: x+254
City: Leiden
Left-Dislocation in Latin: Topics and Syntax in Republican Texts
Contents
Preface
1 Introduction
1.1. What Is Left-Dislocation? The Aims and Coverage of This Study
1.2. Genre, Text Type and Register
1.3. Left-Dislocation and Relative Clauses
1.4. The Republican Latin Corpus
1.5. Left-Dislocation and Early Latin Syntax
2 Defining Left-Dislocation
2.1. Syntactic and Pragmatic Aspects of Left-Dislocation in Latin
2.1.1. The Dislocated Constituent and the Anaphoric Element
2.1.2. Information Structure and Discourse Function of LD
2.2. Left-Dislocation and the Latin Relative Clause
2.2.1. The History of Latin Relative Clauses
2.2.2. Types of Latin Relative Clauses
2.2.2.1. Nominal Heads (Types A1–2 and B1–2)
2.2.2.2. Pronominal Antecedents (Types C1–2)
2.2.3. Notes on Word Order
2.2.4. Attractio Inuersa
2.3. Earlier Studies on Left-Dislocation in Latin
2.4. Concluding Remarks
3 Left-Dislocation in Comedy (with an Appendix on Lucretius)
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Syntactic Description of Left-Dislocation in Comedy
3.2.1. Distribution of Cases in LD with Relative Clauses
3.2.1.1. Thematic Nominatives
3.2.1.2. Anticipation of Main Clause Case
3.2.1.3. Attraction of Antecedent (Attractio Inuersa)
3.2.2. Relative Clause Syntax
3.2.2.1. Types of Antecedents and Elements Preceding Them
3.2.2.2. Head-Internal Relative Clauses
3.2.2.3. Restrictive and Non-restrictive Relative Clauses
3.2.3. Left-Dislocation without a Relative Clause
3.2.4. Further Observations on Syntax
3.2.4.1. Form of Resumption
3.2.4.2. Syntactic Functions and Matrix Clauses
3.2.5. Conclusion
3.3. Information Structure and Pragmatic Functions of Left-Dislocation in Comedy
3.3.1. Active or Accessible Elements Promoted to Discourse Topics
3.3.2. Re-activating an Accessible Referent or Introducing a Brand New Referent as Topic
3.3.3. Complex Referential Situations
3.3.4. Generic Statements
3.3.5. Contrastive Contexts
3.3.6. Left-Dislocation as a Focusing Device
3.4. Discussion and Conclusion
3.4.1. Pragmatics and the Function of LD in Comedy
3.4.2. Attractions
3.4.3. Distribution
3.4.4. Is Left-Dislocation in Roman Comedy a Colloquial Feature?
3.5. Information Structure and Pragmatic Organization of Head-Internal Relative Clauses (A1 and A2)
3.6. Comparison of LD with Sentence-Initial Relative Clauses without Resumption in the Matrix Clause (B2 and C2)
3.7. Appendix on LD in Lucretius
4 Left-Dislocation in the Epigraphic Material
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus, Sententia Minuciorum, Lex de pariete faciendo
4.2.1. ILLRP 511 (CIL I2 581) Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus
4.2.2. ILLRP 517 (CIL I2 584 = V ii 7749) Sententia Minuciorum
4.2.3. ILLRP 518 (CIL I2 698 = X 1781) Lex parieti faciendo Puteolana
4.3. The Roman Statutes
4.3.1. Lex repetundarum (Law 1) and Lex agraria (Law 2)
4.3.2. Other Statutes (Law 14, Law 15, Law 24, Law 25)
4.4. Discussion on the Statutes and Other Legal Inscriptions
4.5. Relevant Constructions from Other (Private) Inscriptions
4.6. Discussion and Conclusions
5 Left-Dislocation in Republican Prose
5.1. Introduction
5.2. M. Porcius Cato: De agricultura
5.2.1. Constructions without Relative Clauses
5.2.2. Constructions with Relative Clauses
5.2.3. Lists and Resumption with haec omnia
5.2.4. Discussion
5.3. Roman Historians and Orators
5.3.1. M. Porcius Cato
5.3.2. Other Fragmentary Historians and Orators
5.3.3. Sallust and Bellum Africum
5.3.4. Discussion
5.4. M. Terentius Varro
5.4.1. Constructions with Relative Clauses
5.4.2. Related Constructions
5.4.3. Discussion
5.5. Conclusion
6 Conclusion
Bibliography
Subject Index
Index Locorum
1 Inscriptions
2 Literary Texts
