Processi cognitivi e mutamento linguistico: il caso della metonimia

Il contributo indaga il meccanismo della metonimia come agente del mutamento linguistico. Dopo un excursus teorico che chiarisce l'importanza (cognitiva e linguistica) del meccanismo metonimico, vengono presi in esame alcuni casi studio che chiariscono (anche per fini didattici) le modalità attraverso le quali si verificano diacronicamentemodificazioni semantiche e morfosintattiche su base metonimica.

Possession and volition in the development of modal meanings: a case-study from Sicilian

This article analyses two Sicilian modal constructions involving vuliri 'want' + infinitive and aviri a ‘have to’ + infinitive. They are used to express modal values, both non-epistemic and epistemic, and futurity. Based on Langacker's Cognitive Grammar assumptions, we describe the semantic network associated with each modal, as well as their semantic overlap. In addition, we describe how modal values interact with temporal-aspectual inflection. Our analysis shows that the epistemic values of vuliri are quite peripheral, while aviri a shows a high degree of polysemy, both in the non-epistemic and in the more abstract epistemic domain. The non-epistemic-to-epistemic shifts depend on the cont…

Conditional connection explored: the case of Sicilian cusà

Abstract Stemming from a wh-question, the Sicilian marker cusà (cu sa ‘who knows’) expresses several epistemic meanings, which can also reach the realm of conditionality. The paper explores the discourse profile of cusà as it emerges from the analysis of diachronic data (from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) and present-day informal Sicilian, namely spoken Sicilian and present-day informal Sicilian as written by speakers on the web. These data suggest a possible path of development leading from the wh-question to new functions. We propose that the origin of this development can be explained in the light of the strategy of the “impossible question”, while the diverse functions of cus…

Conjunctions (non-subordinating)

Una microteoria dell’ordine delle parole nel perì syntáxeōs di Apollonio Discolo

Space (Cases)

Asymmetries in path encoding in Sicilian: A diachronic overview

This talk aims at describing the encoding of path within the system of spatial relations in Sicilian, an Italo-Romance language spoken in Sicily and its satellite islands. In general terms, spatial relations in Sicilian remain largely unexplored in the light of the current linguistic theories. As a consequence, the first point addressed in the proposed description is the comparison of Sicilian data with the cross-linguistic scenario. It is generally argued in the relevant literature that the encoding of path appears to be less autonomous compared to source, goal, and location at the cross-linguistic level, and its encoding is frequently based on location (see Stolz 1992). In Sicilian, the s…

Norma e deviazione. La teoria patologica nel perì syntaxeōs di Apollonio Discolo

The embodied sources of purpose expressions in Latin

This chapter examines the phrasal means of encoding the semantic role of purpose in Latin. After discussing the notion of semantic role and its use in cognitive linguistics, we illustrate the conceptual relation between the notional domains of space and causation. On this basis, we analyze the source of purpose expressions in Latin, which are mainly based on direction (bare dative and the allative markers, i.e. ad / in + accusative), but also include prepositional phrases metaphorically derived from location (e.g. per + accusative, prō + ablative, propter + accusative), or metonymically spreading from reason to purpose (as in the case of causal markers such as genitive + causā and gratiā ).

Space (Adpositions)

Composizione verbale in latino: il caso dei verbi in -facio, -fico

Oggetto di questo studio sono i composti verbali latini il cui secundo membro è un costituente verbale connesso con il verbo facio. Tenteremo di fornire una descrizione complessiva di queste costruzioni concentrandoci particolarmente su quei tipi che veicolano un significato causativo, come calefacio ‘rendere caldo’; labefacio ‘far vacillare’; amplifico ‘ampliare’ etc., e sulla relazione esistente tra i causativi morfologici (ove per morfologici intendiamo anche i com- posti) e gli altri mezzi che il latino possiede per codificare il significato causativo.

L'uso non canonico di 'piuttosto che' coordinativo in italiano contemporaneo

Scopo di questo lavoro è un’analisi dell’uso non canonico della congiunzione piuttosto che: si tenterà di tracciare il percorso responsabile del mutamento sintattico e semantico che conduce dall’uso subordinativo a quello coordinativo. Nel suo uso canonico l’avverbio piuttosto, seguito da che, funge da congiunzione utilizzata per introdurre una comparazione tra due entità definite o tra due frasi, instaurando, dunque, un rapporto di subordinazione (Serianni 1988: 519). Esempio: (1) Corriere Salute 03.07.2005, p. 18 “preferiamo sentire e raccontarci delle favole, piuttosto che guardare alla nostra realtà”. A partire dagli anni ’90 del ‘900 (approssimativamente) inizia la penetrazione, prima …

Suffissi valutativi in Plauto: una proposta cognitivista e morfo-pragmatica

Latin evaluative suffixes, especially diminutives, have received considerable attention in the relevant literature, but a morphologicalpragmatic analysis of their uses is still lacking. This work aims at analysing the behavior of the archaic Latin suffix -llus within a theoretical framework combining ressler – Merlini Barbaresi’s (1994) morpho-pragmatic model and the cognitive perspective on polysemy and the pragmatic polyfunctionality of evaluative suffixes. As an evaluative suffix,, -llus is used with a proper diminutive function that adds to the base the semantic component 'small'. In many cases, however, -llus plays a function related to the complex system of relations between the speak…

Modalità “orientata sul partecipante” in siciliano contemporaneo: un’analisi dei dati dell’Atlante linguistico della Sicilia (ALS)

Polisemia e convergenze nel dominio dei modali in siciliano: una lettura funzional-cognitivista di ‘vuliri’ e‘aviri a’

We intend to analyze a few constructions, in Sicilian (S) and in the variety of Italian spoken in Sicily (IS), involving the modals voliri (S)/volere (IS) “want” and aviri a (S)/dovere (IS) “have to”. They are used to express both modal values, along a deontic→epistemic continuum, and futurity (Sicilian, but not Italian, lacks a synthetic future). Modality has been traditionally defined as the linguistic manifestation of the speaker’s attitude towards his utterance. However, modality does not have an unambiguous treatment and there is no agreement on number and kind of semantic categories that can be completely defined as modals (cf. Bybee et al. 1994; Palmer 2001; Nuyts 2005). From a cogni…

The case of cusà in Sicilian: From interrogative clause to epistemic adverb and discourse marker

Evaluative suffixes in Archaic Latin: A cognitive morpho-pragmatic account for –ellus/-illus in Plautus

A preliminary investigation on Latin diminutives conducted within a framework that holds together the synchronic and diachronic explanation model of polysemy elaborated in Cognitive Linguistics and morpho-pragmatic studies on diminutives

Morfologia e sintassi: questioni di confine ‘vecchie’ e ‘nuove’

Questo lavoro si inserisce in un più ampio tentativo di ricostruire, con un metodo che possa caratterizzarsi come ‘scientifico’, il quadro della morfologia derivazionale del greco antico. La morfologia teorica, e quella lessicale in particolare, si avvalgono delle intuizioni del parlante nativo al fine di esplicitare la consistenza dei processi morfologici e la loro produttività; nel caso di una lingua ‘morta’ all’analista viene meno tutta la messe di dati che possono essere elicitati dalla specifica competenza dei parlanti nativi su fatti inerenti alla propria lingua. Per questo motivo ho pensato di ‘interrogare’, seppur in modo affatto eterodosso, Apollonio Discolo quale parlante nativo c…

Paths of Grammaticalisation of the Early Latin per/per-: a Cognitive Hypothesis

The paper describes the semantic network of the Early Latin preverb per- and its relation with the corresponding preposition per ‘through’. Making use of the Cognitive Grammar framework, we argue that the basic spatial semantics of both preverb and preposition (here called the “PER relation”) can account for the whole set of concrete and abstract meanings per and per- express. In spite of this common semantic nucleus, however, per- and per differ as to the mechanisms at work in the development and organization of their semantic continua, thus imposing a differentiated analysis at the semantic as well as the morphosyntactic level. In this respect, the notions of grammaticalization and lexica…

Latin compounds

Abstract This paper intends to offer a descriptive survey of compounding in Latin, updated with the findings of the most recent literature. In the first part it focuses on the nature of basic constituents of Latin compounds and on the differentiation between compounds and other kinds of constructions involving two or more constituents, such as (parasynthetic) derivatives and free phrases. In the second part the core patterns of Latin compounds are exemplified, focusing on Nominal and Verbal Compounding, and a classification according to formal and semantic characteristics is proposed. Finally conclusions are drawn, the results of the investigation summarized, and some useful questions for f…

Paths of grammaticalization of Early Latin per/per-: A cognitive hypothesis

The paper describes the semantic network of the Early Latin preverb per- and its relation with the corresponding preposition per ‘through’. Making use of the Cognitive Grammar framework, we argue that the basic spatial semantics of both preverb and preposition (here called the “PER relation”) can account for the whole set of concrete and abstract meanings per and per- express. In spite of this common semantic nucleus, however, per- and per differ as to the mechanisms at work in the development and organization of their semantic continua, thus imposing a differentiated analysis at the semantic as well as the morphosyntactic level. In this respect, the notions of grammaticalization and lexica…

Composti e sintagmi: trattazione 'antica' di problemi attuali

Continuity and discontinuity in the semantics of the Latin preposition per: a cognitive hypothesis

Abstract We propose a description of the semantic network of the Latin prepositional phrase per ‘through’ + Accusative in the early stage of this language. Drawing upon the insights of Cognitive Grammar, we analyze the role of the schematic import in the spread from basic to abstract meanings. Finally, we draw a map of the polysemous network of per, showing that the continuity of the different, but consistently linked, meanings does not necessarily imply the unidirectionality of the concrete-to-abstract shifts.

A Cognitive Grammar account of the Latin preverb per-: A path towards abstractness.

The present paper is concerned with investigating the relationship between prepositions and preverbs in Early Latin. More specifically we aim at analysing the polysemic network of the Early Latin preverb per- and the relationship linking it with the corresponding preposition. For this purpose we have investigated the entire electronic corpus (PHI5) of comedies by Plautus and a technical work (i.e. Cato’s De Agri Cultura, ), which represent a substantial sample of the oldest Latin attestations in an extensive and non- fragmentary form. This choice allows a broad survey of the formerly grammaticalised usages of the preverb, which constitutes a firm platform to gain a perspective on its subseq…

The semantic network of the Latin preposition per: a diachronic investigation.

This paper explores the semantic network of the Latin preposition per (“through”) in a diachronic perspective derived from the analysis of two electronic corpora of 3rd century BCE – 4th century CE (PHI5; Intratext Digital Library). Drawing upon the insights of Cognitive Grammar (e.g. Langacker 1991), we analyze the role of the schematic import of per in the spread from basic to abstract meanings, thus accounting for the interconnections among the various senses of the polysemous entity. This theoretical position is integrated with Croft’s (1991) model of causal structure of events, as well as the results of an extensive analysis of Early Latin (Brucale & Mocciaro fc.), in order to address …

Continuity and discontinuity in the semantics of the Latin preposition per: a cognitive hypothesis

We intend to analyse the semantic network of the preposition ‘per’ (“through”, “across” etc.) in Early Latin and the role of its conceptual structure in the spread from basic/spatial to abstract meanings. Although prepositions in ancient languages have raised a great deal of attention, there is little regarding Latin, and an in-depth semantic analysis of Latin prepositions is still lacking. A cognitive-based investigation of Plautus’ comedies (254-184 BCE) shows that, unlike other Indo-European languages, the spatial value rests on a schema representing ‘motion along a path’ not necessarily involving a bounded Landmark. The spatial meanings are predominant in Archaic Latin; the only abstrac…

Legge Tobler-Mussafia

Voce inserita nell Enciclopedia dell'Italiano Treccani (EncIt): La legge di Tobler - Mussafia codifica una regolarità osservabile in italiano antico (dalle origini agli inizi del XV secolo) e, più in generale, in tutte le varietà medievali romanze, nel comportamento dei clitici (pronomi personali obliqui atoni - mi, ti, gli, le, lo, la, etc. - e particelle avverbiali - ci, vi, ne, etc.) nella loro relazione con il verbo e talvolta con altri elementi della frase. Il fenomeno è indagato attraverso opportune esemplificazioni in una prospettiva volta alla ricerca della sua motivazione.

Assimilazione

Voce inserita nell'Enciclopedia dell'italiano Treccani (EncIt); il meccanismo dell'assimilazione è indagato da una prospettiva sia sincronica, relativa ai nessi assimilati dell'italiano contemporaneo, sia diacronica e ricerca la motivazioni del processo e i suoi fondamenti fonetici e fonologici.

L’uso non canonico di piuttosto che coordinativo

Scopo di questo lavoro è un’analisi dell’uso non canonico della congiunzione piuttosto che: si tenterà di tracciare il percorso responsabile del mutamento sintattico e semantico che conduce dall’uso subordinativo a quello coordinativo. Nel suo uso canonico l’avverbio piuttosto, seguito da che, funge da congiunzione utilizzata per introdurre una comparazione tra due entità definite o tra due frasi, instaurando, dunque, in entrambi i casi, un rapporto di subordinazione. Esempio: (1) Corriere Salute 03.07.2005, p. 18 “Ancora una volta preferiamo sentire e raccontarci delle favole, piuttosto che guardare alla nostra realtà”. A partire dagli anni ’90 del ‘900 (approssimativamente) inizia la …