The discourse function of discontinuous noun phrases in Latin: A discourse-pragmatic approach to a word order pattern.

Abstract

Discontinuous word order (sometimes referred to as disjunction or hyperbaton) has traditionally been understood as a means for emphasizing or highlighting adjectives. This dissertation demonstrates to the contrary that discontinuous noun phrases in Latin function on the discourse level as markers of clauses which begin new thematic strands. There are various sorts of discontinuous word order involving separation of modifiers from their heads or divisions of compound verb forms. The specific type of discontinuous noun phrase under examination is that in which a finite or non-finite verb separates a noun from its attributive modifiers at the end of a clause, as exemplified in (1): (1) <italic>ferro igitur</italic> [<italic>filii Anci</italic>] <italic>EAM arcere CONTUMELIAM statuunt</italic>. (Liv. 1.40.4) This study reviews previous explanations of discontinuity in syntactic frameworks (Marouzeau, Kuhner-Stegmann, and Hofmann-Szantyr), as well as pragmatic frameworks (Panhuis, Pinkster), and transformational frameworks (Spigariol). Syntactic explanations are untenable in most cases, pragmatic explanations do not address this particular type of discontinuity, and transformational explanations do not address the function of discontinuity. A corpus of 202 discontinuous noun phrases drawn from Livy 1.1-40 and Velleius Paterculus 2.1-65 shows that the majority of discontinuous NP's occurs in the first proposition of a thematic strand. Statistical testing of a representive sample of clauses from Livy shows that the coincidence of discontinuity and new thematic strands is highly significant. This suggests that discontinuity serves the same presentational function as that described for <italic>autem </italic> by Kroon (1995). A separate statistical test of a representive sample of clauses from Velleius shows that the coincidence of discontinuity and <italic> autem</italic> is also highly significant. The bulk of the dissertation attempts to classify examples from the corpus into various categories of thematic shifts. These categories are introductions of a New Topic, elevations of a Given Topic to Topic function, temporary thematic shifts, changes of setting, neutral transitions, ends of strands, and parallel/contrastive Focus constructions. The study concludes that discontinuous noun phrases regularly function as markers of the thematic structure of discourse. This is important both for fluent reading and for textual analysis.