Academic literature on the topic 'Latin (langue) – Adjectifs'

RésuméAfin de déterminer les raisons pour lesquelles le grec a emprunté des suffixes au latin, nous examinons, en suivant le cadre théorique de Danielle Corbin, le suffixe-(i)ár(is)< du latin ‑arius, par exemple dansvromiaris[‘malpropre’], qui construit des adjectifs dénominaux à caractère [-savant/-soutenu]. En particulier, les adjectifs en-(i)ár(is)attribuent d’une manière permanente une qualité péjorative qui, dans le cadre de l’activité humaine quotidienne, dévie de la norme sociale d’une manière perceptible directement par les sens. Ce trait, lié à leur registre, résulte du fait que le suffixe est emprunté au latin, une langue sans prestige aux yeux des Grecs. Cette représentation stéréotypique de la latinité permet au grec de marquer les différences entre, d’un côté, le [+soutenu], l’officiel, l’objectif et, de l’autre, le [-soutenu], le quotidien, le subjectif, en conservant, dans le premier cas, les éléments d’origine grecque, et en utilisant, dans le second, des éléments empruntés.

In Old English, negative adjectives, i.e. incorporating the negative prefix -un, are said to generally come in postposition to nouns (e.g. Fischer, 2001; Sampson, 2010). This paper investigates to what extent this general rule is followed in Aelfric’s Catholic Homilies, the texts of this author being a typical choice for the study of Old English syntax (cf. Davis 2006; Reszkiewcz, 1966; Kohonen, 1978). The data have been obtained from the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose (YCOE). The following research questions have been formulated: Do strong negative adjectives outnumber nonnegated adjectives in postposition? Do strong negative adjectives have a tendency to appear in postposition? Do strong negated adjectives occur in preposition? The results indicated that for the sample analyzed, strong adjectives in postposition are not predominantly negated. Additionally, the postposition of most of those which are may potentially be explained by other factors, such as modification by a prepositional phrase, co-occurrence with a weak preposed adjective (both mentioned by Fischer), or indirect Latin influence in a formulaic phrase. Also, the data does not appear to support the observation that negated adjectives tend to appear in post- rather than preposition.

Abstract In line with the traditional pronouncement that the weak (definite) forms of adjectives in Germanic follow the definite determiner, the Gothic weak-only adjective sama ‘the same’ (no indefinite form *sams, with the strong inflection -s, occurs) is determined (sa sama ‘the same’) in the majority of its attestations. However, contrary to the traditional description, occasionally it also occurs on its own, without a determiner. An examination of the syntactic distribution of the adjective and a comparison of the Gothic translation of the Bible with the Greek and Latin texts uncover a double semantic nature of sama. Specifically, when determined, sama conveys a definite/particularising force of ‘the same’. In the absence of the determiner, however, it conveys the semantic value of ‘one; of one kind’. The results of this investigation contribute to our understanding of the conditions that govern the distribution of strong vs. weak adjective inflections in early Germanic. In particular, they confirm the contention that the occurrence of the weak form of the adjective is not simply a matter of whether or not a definite determiner precedes it. Instead, the definite value of the adjective inflection is realised cumulatively (periphrastically), via the co-occurrence of the definite determiner and the weak adjective inflection.

Abstract The paper provides a state of the art in research on prepositional adverbials in Romance that combine a preposition with an adjective, e.g., Sp. en breve ‘in short’ (= PA-pattern). It therefore reviews the existing bibliography on Romance in general, Latin, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. The theoretical background is the hypothesis that the PA-pattern could have played a relevant role as a third way of forming adverbials in the diachrony of Romance, paralleling adverbial adjectives (e.g., breve used as an adverb: hablar breve) and derived adverbs (e.g., brevemente). The review confirms that the PA-pattern is marginal in (written) Latin but rises abruptly in early Romance, suggesting a “hidden” past in spoken Latin. This is corroborated by the fact that similar PA-patterns are used in all Romance languages. However, these insights have often to be deduced from marginal observations on the adverbials in use. As yet, research has not systematically studied the role of PA adverbials in the diachrony of Romance.

French -age developed from Latin relational adjectives in -aticus that were by and by nominalized, thereby incorporating the former head noun as a semantic constituent. In this article, it is argued that the Modern French -age derivation originated from the (re-)association of a semantically vacuous formative and an abstract semantic feature. This semantic feature gradually emerged through abstraction from the existing concrete derivatives and, once established, has determined the range of possible interpretations of newly coined formations up to this day. The most important result of the analysis is that, apart from a structural reanalysis of the Latin nominalized relational -aticus adjectives, French -age did not undergo any meaning change at all, the stability of its meaning being due to the abovementioned continuous interplay between the abstract semantic feature and the usage of the various concrete -age nominalizations.

The analysis centers on the notion of category in synthetic and analytic verbal forms and on the status of the feature that determines the forms of the Latin perfect. In this part of the Latin verbal system, active forms are synthetic (“verbs”) but passive forms are analytic (i.e., participle and finite auxiliary). I show that the two perfects occur in essentially the same structure and are distinguished by a difference in movement to T; moreover, the difference in forms can be derived without reference to category labels like “Verb” or “Adjective” on the Root. In addition, the difference in perfects is determined by a feature with clear syntactic consequences, which must be associated arbitrarily with certain Roots, the deponent verbs. I discuss the implications of these points in the context of Distributed Morphology, the theory in which the analysis is framed.

English marks the distinction between adjectives and adverbs with an adverbial suffix, whereas Dutch and German allow adjectives to be used adverbially without extra morphology. This may give rise to the idea that English, like Latin, is more specific in its classification of various types of modifiers. We propose an alternative analysis: Dutch and German draw a different dividing line, between attributive modifiers (NP-level) on the one hand, and predicative and adverbial modifiers (clause-level) on the other. To this end, they use adjectival inflection instead of derivational morphology. We describe how the adverbial systems in these three West-Germanic languages have developed and try to explain the changes that have occurred.

Summary The Ars Ambrosiana is an early medieval Latin grammatical commentary on Donatus’ Ars maior, written in Northern Italy in the 6th or 7th century A.D. In comparison with preceding grammatical commentaries, the Ars Ambrosiana displays a much more profound Christian-exegetical way of thinking. This study opens with an overview of the historicalcultural context of the grammatical commentary and of the general way of thinking of its anonymous author. The remainder of the article consists in an analysis of the, to some extent highly original, framework which the author uses for describing the Latin language, illustrated by a brief study of the terms agnitio (“recognition”) and nuntiatio (“[linguistic] form”), and their combinations with the adjectives specialis (“special”) and tota (“entire/ whole”).

La présente étude porte sur les adverbes latins formés sur un thème d'adjectif lexical (c'est-à-dire qui peut être employé comme attribut). Elle vise à décrire, par l'examen d'un groupe homogène d'adverbes, le fonctionnement de la forme adverbiale et à donner une définition de l'adverbe. Sont d'abord étudiés les différents types morphologiques d'adverbes, ainsi que les limites de la productivité adverbiale et leurs causes. Un nouveau classement des adverbes est alors proposé, qui repose d'une part sur le niveau syntaxique d'emploi (adverbes de phrase vs adjoints), d'autre part sur les différentes fonctions remplies par ces adverbes (détermination, qualification, quantification, degré et localisation). Enfin, l'étude s'attache à trouver des critères permettant de marquer la limite entre l'adverbe et la préposition, l'adverbe et le substantif, l'adverbe et l'adjectif. Dans le premier cas, la possibilité de régir un complément n'est pas un critère de distinction suffisant car certains adverbes admettent un complément et ne sont donc ni intransitifs, ni omissibles; dans le deuxième, la concurrence entre l'adverbe et le syntagme prépositionnel n'implique pas que l'adverbe soit un raccourci d'expression, l'adverbe n'ayant pas toujours de tel équivalent et ayant parfois un sens différent et complémentaire du syntagme prépositionnel; la troisième comparaison permet de montrer que la spécificité de l'adverbe n'est pas seulement l'incompatibilité avec le substantif, mais concerne plus généralement la fonction du constituant modifié. Cette caractéristique fonctionnelle doit être accompagnée d'un trait morphologique, l'invariabilité, pour que la définition de l'adverbe soit complète
The present study bears on the Latin adverbs formed on the themes of lexical (i. E. Impossible to use as a predicate) adjectives. Through the examination of a homogeneous group of adverbs, it aims to describe the functioning of the adverbial form and to give a definition of the adverb. First, the several morphological types of adverbs will be studied, as well as the limits of the adverbial productivity and their causes. Then a new classification of adverbs is proposed, based on the one hand on the syntactic level of use (sentence adverbs vs. Adjuncts), on the other hand on the various functions performed by these adverbs (determination, qualification, quantification, degree and localisation). Lastly, in this study it will be endeavoured to find criteria by which a limit can be found between adverbs and prepositions, adverbs and substantives, and adverbs and adjectives. In the first case, the possibility to govern a complement is not a satisfactory distinguishing criterion because some adverbs admit a complement and are therefore neither intransitive nor dispensable; in the second case, the competition between adverbs and prepositional phrases does not imply that adverbs be a means to shorten such phrases, as adverbs do not always have such equivalents and may have a different and complementary meaning compared to the prepositional phrases; the third comparison allows to show that the specificity of adverbs is not only their incompatibility with substantives but concerns more generally the function of the modified constituent. This functional characteristic must be associated with a morphological feature, invariability, to yield a complete definition of the adverb

D.Litt. et Phil. (Latin)
The aim of this study is to establish the importance of the comparative and superlative degrees of the adjective in general, to evaluate the effectiveness of the comparatives and superlatives which Tacitus applies in his writings, and to ascertain what contribution they make to the individual texts and to the study of Tacitus' works as a whole. Conflict, contrast and comparison feature prominently in Tacitus' record and interpretation of historical events, and his portrayal of character. Conflict presupposes comparison and in this regard comparatives and superlatives may be considered indispensable elements of Tacitus' writings. His skill in applying these degrees of the adjective allows him to utilise them to the full, and, directly and indirectly, to record and interpret, inform and imply, enhance and enliven, compare and contrast, evoke and express, colour and persuade. The persuasive power that comparatives and superlatives possess may vary from negligible to significant and, consequently, they may be classified as neutral or loaded respectively. They fulfill both an intrinsic and contextual function, and an evaluation ~f their effectiveness can only be determined after consideration of both functions.

Accounts of institutions and private individuals between the Norman Conquest and about 1500 were routinely written in a non-random mixture of Medieval Latin, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English. If the base language was Medieval Latin, then only nouns, stems of verbs, and certain semantic fields such as weights and measures could appear in English or French, with all the grammatical material in Latin and English and Anglo-Norman nouns, verbs, and adjectives Latinised by adding a suffix, or an abbreviation sign representing a suffix. If the base language was Anglo-Norman, then only the same restricted semantic fields and nouns and stems of verbs could appear in English. This situation changed over time, but was essentially stable for almost five hundred years. The chapter asks why, if English words could easily be assimilated into a Latin or French matrix by means of suffixes or abbreviations representing suffixes, were all English words not assimilated? Why did letter graphies such as <wr->, <-ck>, <-ght> persist in mixed-language business writing? One effect is to make the text-type of business writing very unlike any other genre—half a glance is all it takes to recognise a mixed-language business document and that may have been an advantage.