Pragmatics forms nowadays an integral part of the description not only of modern languages but also of ancient languages such as Latin and Ancient Greek. This book explores various pragmatic phenomena in these two languages, which are accessible through corpora consisting of a broad range of text types. It comprises empirical synchronic studies that deal with three main topics: (i) speech acts and pragmatic markers, (ii) word order, and (iii) discourse markers and particles. The specificity of this book consists in the discussion and application of various methodological approaches. It provides new insights into the pragmatic phenomena encountered, compares, where possible, the results of the investigation of the two languages, and draws conclusions of a more general nature. The volume will be of interest to linguists working on pragmatics in general and to scholars of Latin and Ancient Greek in particular.
This two-volume work contains a selection of papers first presented at the 22nd International Colloquium on Latin Linguistics, held in Prague (2023). The papers address important issues in Latin linguistics with a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. The first volume ("Word") contains texts concerning Latin phonology, etymology, flexion and derivation, and lexical semantics, both with respect to individual words and to entire word classes. Both diachronic and synchronic perspectives are employed in the discussion of the various issues. The second volume ("Clause and Discourse") includes papers dealing with issues of syntax and semantics, and with the structure of texts and pragmatic aspects. One of the subchapters, entitled "Conversation and Dialogue", contains papers presented at the conference in a separate workshop of the same name, linked by a common methodological framework of "Conversation Analysis". This book provides essential texts for researchers in the field of Latin linguistics and may also be of use to linguists who work primarily with other languages.
These volumes contain a selection of contributions first presented at the 21st International Colloquium on Latin Linguistics, held in Santiago de Compostela (2022). They cover essential topics in Latin linguistics from a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. The first volume includes papers on Latin Syntax and Semantics, Latin Syntax and Pragmatics, Greek-Latin language, and Digital Linguistics. The contributions report on the latest research into very relevant issues in specific areas such as definiteness, casual syntax, sentence structure, word order, etc.; in addition, the most recent methodological advances using a variety of databases, a key tool in contemporary research, are presented. The second volume includes papers on Semantics and Lexicography, Etymology, Discourse strategies, and a special section devoted to the analysis of Conversation and Dialogue. The contributions report on the latest research into highly relevant issues in specific areas such as nominal and adjectival lexicology from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspectives, the use of Greek words as a vehicle for the expression of philosophical concepts, the choice and rendering of various linguistic strategies in direct and indirect discourse, etc. A particularly innovative section deals with various aspects of conversational language in a number of text types, as well as the use of different devices that contribute to the expression of (im)politeness by participants in the speech act. A knowledge of the work collected in these volumes is essential for all those involved in research in the field of Latin linguistics.
Does the story of Lucius, a curious and lustful young man who is magically transformed into an ass, have anything to teach us today? Does it have a serious, philosophical and religious meaning, or is it just a form of literary play, full of adventures, magic, sex, violence, and religion? This volume studies the reception of the novel in the last hundred years, showing also the most promising and diverse research perspectives for the future. Apuleius claimed that a philosopher must possess a mirror; perhaps, his novel is a mirror for us to look into.
This volume collects papers on pragmatic perspectives on ancient theatre. Scholars working on literature, linguistics, theatre will find interesting insights on verbal and non-verbal uses of language in ancient Greek and Roman Drama. Comedies and tragedies spanning from the 5th century B.C.E. to the 1st century C.E. are investigated in terms of im/politeness, theory of mind, interpersonal pragmatics, body language, to name some of the approaches which afford new interpretations of difficult textual passages or shed new light into nuances of characterisation, or possibilities of performance. Words, silence, gestures, do things, all the more so in dramatic dialogues on stage.
These volumes assemble contributions presented at the XIX International Colloquium on Latin Linguistics in Munich (2017). They embrace essential topics of Latin linguistics with different theoretical and methodological approaches: The volumes contain chapters on Latin lexicography, etymology, morphology, phonology, Greek-Latin language contact, Latin syntax, semantics, and discourse-pragmatics.
The second edition of this collection of 13 original papers contains an updated introductory section detailing the significance that the original articles published in 1992 have for the further development of research into linguistic politeness into the 21st century. The original articles focus on the phenomenon of politeness in language. They present the most important problems in developing a theory of linguistic politeness, which must deal with the crucial differences between lay notions of politeness in different cultures and the term 'politeness' as a concept within a theory of linguistic politeness. The universal validity of the term itself is called into question, as are models such as those developed by Brown and Levinson, Lakoff, and Leech. New approaches are suggested. In addition to this theoretical discussion, an empirical section presents a number of case studies and research projects in linguistic politeness. These show what has been achieved within current models and what still remains to be done, in particular with reference to cross-cultural studies in politeness and differences between a Western and a non-Western approach to the subject. The publication of this second edition demonstrates that the significance of the collection is just as salient in the first decade of the new millennium as it was at the beginning of the 1990s.