The Communicative Perspective in Latin Word Order.

Abstract

Previous studies of Latin word order have not accounted for the order of all the constituents of the sentence as a whole. In the present study the sentence as a communicative field is investigated in the framework of the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP). This theory states that in languages with so-called "free word order" the sentence elements are arranged according to their relative contribution to the development of the communication. Elements that develop the communication the most are said to have the highest degree of Communicative Dynamism (CD), and are called rhematic (R). Elements that connect the sentence to the context or to the speech situation are called thematic (T). In a normal or non-emotive sentence, the order of the various constituents is T--R. In an emotive (i.e., non-normal) sentence the order is reversed (R--T). The theory of FSP and past research on Latin word order are presented in Chapter Two. In Colloquial Latin, as represented by the comedies of Plautus (ca 250-184 B.C.), all the sentences of the type 'X gives money to Y' are studied in context. The semantic structure agent-action-goal-recipient provides a distribution of increasing degrees of CD over the clause. However, the degrees of CD of some constituents ( and their position in the sentence) may be altered, usually lowered, when they refer to the preceding context or to a person or object in the speech situation. An element may have a higher degree of CD than the one provided by the semantic structure, when it is contrasted with an element in the preceding or following context, or simply when the speaker wants a particular element to be his major point. The order of the constituents in a non-emotive sentence is T--R, and R--T in an emotive sentence (Chapter Three). Some particular patterns in Colloquial Latin are investigated from the communicative point of view in Chapter Four: relative pronouns, interrogative and imperative sentences, disjunctions, "accessory" words in second position, afterthoughts, dominating verbs occurring insided a subordinate nominal clause, and rhematizing factors. The relevance of the communicative perspective for a better comprehension of texts is also shown. In legal and religious texts, taken from Plautus and from inscriptions, the verb tends to be the most rhematic element and hence final, because the verbal action itself (an infringement of the law, a punishment, a promise to a god) tends to be the cenral point the speaker/writer wants to make. Also the inherited Proto-Indo-European OV pattern is strictly followed in legal texts. These two factors are at the basis of an emerging literary tendency for the verb to occur in clause-final position. This tendency is not found in Colloquial Latin (Chapter Five). In Classical Latin, as represented by Caesar (100-44 B.C.), the theme-rheme contrast is neutralized in the verb's almost obligatory final position. The other constituents are organized in accordance with the communicative perspective. The order of the constituents in Classical Latin is thus not S-O-V, nor T--R, but T--R,V in the non-emotive and unmarked sentence. The factors on which the actual distribution of degrees of CD (except of the verb) are based are again the semantic structure and the context (Chapter Six). The Seventh and final chapter contains some suggestions for further research, some hypotheses about the relation between communicative word order and Latin accentuation, and a review of the major contributions of this study to the theory of FSP.