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Late Latin Verb Second: The Sentential Word Order of the Itinerarium Egeriae

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Ledgeway, AN 

Abstract

In this article we undertake a systematic study of the Itinerarium Egeriae, one of the best known late Latin texts, to determine the proper characterization of the word order of the text and to consider in particular whether the Itinerarium Egeriae can legitimately be considered to present a verb-second (V2) grammar on the par with the well-studied grammars of medieval Romance. The results, based on detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses of the text and, where relevant, appropriate comparisons with medieval Romance, confirm the innovative nature of the syntax of the Itinerarium Egeriae whose word order patterns are shown to follow an asymmetric V2 constraint. The article therefore offers valuable original evidence for the often claimed, but hitherto unproven, hypothesis that the V2 syntax of medieval Romance represents the continuation of a parametric setting already well established in the grammar of late Latin.

Description

Keywords

verb second (V2), late Latin, word order, left periphery, medieval romance, Tobler-Mussafia

Journal Title

Catalan Journal of Linguistics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1695-6885
2014-9719

Volume Title

16

Publisher

Centre de Lingüística Teòrica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona/Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana