Search results for " cognitive grammar"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
Possession and volition in the development of modal meanings: a case-study from Sicilian
2019
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…
Discontinuity as defocusing. A cognitive interpretation of the so-called discontinuous reciprocal constructions
2011
I intend to analyze a peculiar kind of reciprocal construction, in which the natural symmetry of the complex event is split due both to the defocusing of one participant (O), coded as a comitative, and the foregrounding of the other one (A), coded as a subject controlling the agreement with the verb. This construction (“discontinuous reciprocal construction”, Dimitriadis 2004), involves a “natural reciprocity” (Kemmer 1993) or “mutual configuration” (Haspelmath 2007) of the event (kissing, marring, meeting). Found in many languages, it is well attested in Italian too, both at standard level and at the informal one (1), alongside the prototypical reciprocal one (2): 1. Gianni si sposa/incont…
THE SEMANTIC NETWORK OF THE LATIN PREPOSITION PER: A DIACHRONIC INVESTIGATION
2020
Proponiamo qui i risultati di uno studio corpus-based sugli slittamenti diacronici osservabili nel network semantico della preposizione per in latino. Sulla base della Cognitive Grammar, descriviamo la semantica di per situandola lungo un continuum che procede dal concreto all’astratto, a partire da un contenuto schematico originario; discutiamo, quindi, i percorsi attraverso i quali i nuovi significati astratti emergono attraverso sli ttamenti metonimici, focalizzando la nostra attenzione sui ruoli causali e sulla caratteristica di animatezza.
Starting from the Origin: the Early Latin preposition de (and its companions)
2015
This paper explores the semantic network of the Early Latin preposition de (“from”) on the basis of an extensive investigation of the electronic corpus of Comedies by Plautus and Cato’s de Agricoltura, which represent a substantial sample of the oldest Latin attestations in an extensive and non-fragmentary form. Our approach is heavily based on Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987; 1991; Luraghi 2003), although we complement it with considerations on the use of prepositions in Latin elaborated in the framework of Functional Grammar (Pinkster 1990; 1991), as well as with arguments proposed in Linguistic Typology (Croft 1991). This approach allows an explicative account of the interconnections a…
Paths of Grammaticalisation of the Early Latin per/per-: a Cognitive Hypothesis
2017
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…
Continuity and discontinuity in the semantics of the Latin preposition per: a cognitive hypothesis
2011
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.
Agency and agentive prepositions in Late Latin
2011
I propose the results of an analysis whose object is the expression of the Agent by means of a prepositional phrase in Post-Classical and Late Latin passive constructions. My interest comprises both the prepositions used in Latin to encode the passive Agent (namely ab), and those constituting the bases for the development in the Romance languages (namely per and de). The analysis is based on the functional approach to Transitivity proposed by Hopper and Thompson 1980 and on Cognitive Grammar, specifically on Langaker 1991 and the various Luraghi’s works on prepositions and cases in ancient Indo-European languages.