Going in Homer: The Role of Verb-Inherent Actionality Within Self-Propelled Motion-Event Encoding

The paper aims at investigating the encoding of self-propelled motion events in Homeric Greek in the light of the typology of motion events, taking into account the case of to go. The verbal class of the self-propelled motion refers to those verbs expressing the idea of a simple translational motion, such as to go, to move, without any information about the manner of motion (see, by contrast, the class of the manner-of-motion verbs, such as to run, to swim) or about the path of motion (see, by contrast, the class of the path verbs, such as to enter, to exit). According to Talmy (2000), world languages can be distinguished depending on whether they prototypically express the semantic compone…

Improving Textual Competence in a Second Language Initial Literacy Classroom

The paper aims to illustrate some textual learning activities developed for an L2 Italian initial-literacy classroom, and, in particular, for illiterate plurilinguals (mostly unaccompanied foreign minors). The activities in question belong to an experimental proposal that consists of a specific textual teaching module integrated with a second-language initial literacy course employing the communicative/affective-humanistic teaching approach. Textual activities are normally proposed to intermediate and advanced level literacy learners in second- language classrooms, in order to fully develop reading and writing abilities (i.e. functional literacy). However, based on the importance of learner…

Searching for Syntax in the Early Medieval Commentaries on Donatus

This study aims at contributing to the reconstruction of the metalanguage and the specific terminology used by grammarians with reference to the reflection on syntax, as it emerges from the analysis of Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages grammar texts. The study focuses on the description of prepositions within the commentaries on Donatus’s Artes. Despite the overall lack of a systematic treatment of syntax within the Greek-Latin grammatical tradition, the description of specific partes orationis, e.g. praepositio, shows actually traces of a certain reflection on syntax. The metaterminology used by grammarians to describe the mutual relation between linguistic elements seems to go even bey…

STRATEGIE DI CODIFICA LINGUISTICA DEGLI EVENTI DI MOVIMENTO NEL GRECO OMERICO

On Migration and Illiteracy—Dealing With Texts in L2 Italian Initial-Literacy Classes

Acquiring the language spoken in the host country is crucial for social inclusion of migrants. From this perspective, illiteracy represents a social problem since it has repercussions on second-language acquisition/learning process. In order to investigate the role of illiteracy in L2 Italian acquisition, the paper aims at analyzing the oral productions of L2 Italian learners with equal L1 but a different level of education, i.e., low educated vs. non-educated. The learners’ productions are collected through semi-structured video interviews. From the perspective of the conversational analysis, the interviews are transcribed and studied taking into account also non-verbal aspects of the oral…

Sulla codifica degli eventi di moto in greco omerico: il ruolo dell'aspetto lessicale

This paper aims at investigating the encoding strategy of motion events in Homeric Greek. Based on Talmy’s theoretical framework (1985; 2000; 2007; 2009), this study focuses on a rather neglected topic on motion events description, i.e. the role of verbal inherent lexical aspect (Aktionsart). The analysis takes into account the occurrences of the verbs for run in the Iliad and the Odyssey. In particular, the verbs θέω, τρέχω, ἔδραμον show a non-random distribution with the co-occurring spatial particles as PATH-satellites. Textual data suggest that the [±telic] aspectual feature plays a fundamental role for both the entailment of the arrival of the FIGURE (the moving object) to the GROUND (…

On the Impact of (Il)literacy on L2 Italian Acquisition of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors

The aim of the paper is to analyse the interlanguage of L2 Italian learners with the same L1 but different levels of education. The learners belong to the “unaccompanied foreign minorsˮ category, whose linguistic profile is characterised by the frequent coexistence of a multilingual ability and a very low, or zero, level of education. Focusing on the acquisition of verb inflectional morphology and on phraseological units as well, the comparison of learners’ varieties aims to show that several differences depend on the only parameter that differentiates them, namely literacy vs. illiteracy in L1.

From Thinking to Raging: Reflexes of Indo-European *men- Polysemy in Homer

This paper aims at investigating the semantic value of the verb μαίνομαι “to rage, to be furious” in Homeric Greek, in order to clarify the striking semantic relationship between the common ‘irrational’ meaning of the verb and the original ‘rational’ meaning of the Indo-European root *men- “to think”, to which the verb traces back. The corresponding words for μαίνομαι in other Indo-European languages (e.g. OInd. mányatē; Av. mainyeite; OIr. (do)moiniur; OCS mъnjo; Lit. miniu) can be translated as “to think”, thus showing an opposite meaning. From a textual analysis of all the occurrences of μαίνομαι in the Iliad and the Odyssey, the study aims at finding semantic traces of the original mean…

Homeric Evidences of an Inherently Actional Opposition: ἔρχομαι vs ἦλθον

The paper aims at analyzing the paradigmatic relationship between the verbs ἔρχομαι and ἦλθον in Homeric Greek. Both verbs convey the idea of going within a Homeric suppletive paradigm. Although suppletivism between ἔρχομαι, εἶμι, ἐλεύσομαι (future), ἦλθον (aorist), εἰλήλουθα (perfect) is generally accepted, there is still uncertainty on both etymology and semantic features involving inherent actionality, with particular reference to ἔρχομαι. Therefore, the actional status of ἔρχομαι and its relationship with ἦλθον need further investigation. A textual analysis of the Homeric occurrences of both ἔρχομαι and ἦλθον, focusing on the semantic-syntactic discourse context, has shed light on their…

De Praepositione: The Emerging of Donatus’s Thought on Syntax?

The paper aims at investigating the syntax treatment in late Antiquity through the analysis of the description of prepositions within Donatus’s Artes. As far as an organic and dedicated description of syntax is concerned, the Roman tradition of grammatical studies in late Antiquity shows an overall gap. However, reflections on syntax emerge from the parts of speech descriptions made by grammarians. The ultimate purpose of this paper is to understand if, and to what extent, traces of emerging thought on syntax can be found in Donatus’s description of prepositions. These are regarded as a syntactic object of study by the modern linguistic theory. To that end, the paper focuses on the textual …

Rapporti di reggenza? Una descrizione ambivalente nella tradizione grammaticale tardoantica e medioevale

This study aims to shed light on the historical development of a linguistic theory with reference to syntax in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, through an investigation of grammatical works related to Donatus, since a reflection on syntax emerges from the commentaries and from other grammatical works connected with his artes. This investigation focuses on the description of the government relation between praepositio and casus, through a preliminary collection of the occurrences of both terms with the Cross Database Searchtool of Brepols Publishers as a digital tool, and based on a textual analysis of the de praepositione sections included in a selection of grammatical works ranging from…

Lexical Aspect and Motion Event Encoding in Homeric Greek: A Case Study - poster

Lexical Aspect and Motion Event Encoding in Homeric Greek: A Case Study This paper aims to investigate the role that lexical aspect (Aktionsart) plays in motion event encoding in Homeric Greek. In particular, the role of telicity as an inherent semantic property of the verb has been recently re-evaluated within the verbal system of early Indo-European languages (Bartolotta 2016). On the basis of textual analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey, I will argue how Homeric Greek motion verbs appear to be compatible with the entailment of the arrival of the Figure to the Ground according to their inherent telicity (see Bartolotta forthcoming). Specifically, I will focus on the Homeric verbs for ̔ru…

Recensione a “Goschler J., Stefanowitsch A. (eds.), Variation and change in the encoding of motion events, Human Cognitive Processing (HCP) 41, John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2013, 251 pp.”

Variation and change in the encoding of motion events is a thematic collective volume focused on motion event encoding, one of the main topics in Cognitive Linguistics. Edited by Juliana Goschler and Anatol Stefanowitsch, it is the forty-first volume of the Human Cognitive Processing series, a John Benjamins’ interdisciplinary book series concerning research on language(s) and human cognitive faculties. The book results from a theme session of the Fourth International Conference of the German Cognitive Linguistic Association.

Lexical aspect and motion event encoding in homeric greek: a case study

This paper aims to investigate the role that lexical aspect (Aktionsart) plays in motion event encoding in Homeric Greek. In particular, the role of telicity as an inherent semantic property of the verb has been recently re-evaluated within the verbal system of early Indo-European languages (Bartolotta 2016). According to Talmy (1985; 2000), a translational motion event consists of an object (Figure) that moves (Motion) through a path (Path) with respect to another reference object (Ground).On the basis of textual analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey, I will argue how Homeric Greek motion verbs turn out to be compatible with the entailment of the arrival of the Figure to the Ground accordi…