Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 15. Latin denominal deponents
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 15. Latin denominal deponents

A syntactic analysis
  • Francesco Pinzin
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 14
This chapter is in the book Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 14

Abstract

Latin deponent verbs are usually analyzed as idiosyncratic forms whose Middle morphology does not correspond to the subjacent syntactic/semantic structure (Embick 2000, Xu et al. 2007). This paper shows that, for the deponents produced after the first half of the II cent. BCE (ex. ancillor ‘I serve’, dominor ‘I rule’, aquor ‘I go to get water’), the presence of the Middle morphology is syntactically justified. These deponents are denominals. Their event structure involves two events, a stative one, v-be°, whose complement is the verbalized nominal element, and a dynamic one, v-do°. The unique argument is both the HOLDER of the state and the DOER of the dynamic event. The Middle morphology allows for the identification between these two positions, as in a Middle reflexive derivation (Spathas et al. 2015).

Abstract

Latin deponent verbs are usually analyzed as idiosyncratic forms whose Middle morphology does not correspond to the subjacent syntactic/semantic structure (Embick 2000, Xu et al. 2007). This paper shows that, for the deponents produced after the first half of the II cent. BCE (ex. ancillor ‘I serve’, dominor ‘I rule’, aquor ‘I go to get water’), the presence of the Middle morphology is syntactically justified. These deponents are denominals. Their event structure involves two events, a stative one, v-be°, whose complement is the verbalized nominal element, and a dynamic one, v-do°. The unique argument is both the HOLDER of the state and the DOER of the dynamic event. The Middle morphology allows for the identification between these two positions, as in a Middle reflexive derivation (Spathas et al. 2015).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction LSRL 46 Stony Brook 1
  4. Chapter 1. Expletive negation is not expletive 5
  5. Chapter 2. Long-distance binding of French reflexive soi 21
  6. Chapter 3. French negative concord and discord 35
  7. Chapter 4. Dimensions of variation 53
  8. Chapter 5. Ma non era rosso? (But wasn’t it red?) 69
  9. Chapter 6. Dime una cosa : Are wh-in-situ questions different in Spanish? 85
  10. Chapter 7. Parametric comparison and dialect variation 103
  11. Chapter 8. Morphological doublets in Brazilian Portuguese wh -constructions 135
  12. Chapter 9. Clitic doubling, person and agreement in French hyper-complex inversion 153
  13. Chapter 10. Licensing conditions on null generic subjects in Spanish 185
  14. Chapter 11. Bridging and dislocation in Catalan 201
  15. Chapter 12. Dependent numerals and dependent existentials in Romanian 215
  16. Chapter 13. Stressed enclitics are not weak pronouns 231
  17. Chapter 14. Causativization of verbs of directed motion in Romance languages 245
  18. Chapter 15. Latin denominal deponents 263
  19. Chapter 16. Against control by implicit passive agents 279
  20. Chapter 17. Romance evaluative que/che/să sentences as inverted optatives 293
  21. Chapter 18. Resumed phrases (are always moved, even with in-island resumption) 309
  22. Chapter 19. Timing properties of (Brazilian) Portuguese and (European) Spanish 325
  23. Language index 341
  24. Subject index 343
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.14.15pin

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction LSRL 46 Stony Brook 1
  4. Chapter 1. Expletive negation is not expletive 5
  5. Chapter 2. Long-distance binding of French reflexive soi 21
  6. Chapter 3. French negative concord and discord 35
  7. Chapter 4. Dimensions of variation 53
  8. Chapter 5. Ma non era rosso? (But wasn’t it red?) 69
  9. Chapter 6. Dime una cosa : Are wh-in-situ questions different in Spanish? 85
  10. Chapter 7. Parametric comparison and dialect variation 103
  11. Chapter 8. Morphological doublets in Brazilian Portuguese wh -constructions 135
  12. Chapter 9. Clitic doubling, person and agreement in French hyper-complex inversion 153
  13. Chapter 10. Licensing conditions on null generic subjects in Spanish 185
  14. Chapter 11. Bridging and dislocation in Catalan 201
  15. Chapter 12. Dependent numerals and dependent existentials in Romanian 215
  16. Chapter 13. Stressed enclitics are not weak pronouns 231
  17. Chapter 14. Causativization of verbs of directed motion in Romance languages 245
  18. Chapter 15. Latin denominal deponents 263
  19. Chapter 16. Against control by implicit passive agents 279
  20. Chapter 17. Romance evaluative que/che/să sentences as inverted optatives 293
  21. Chapter 18. Resumed phrases (are always moved, even with in-island resumption) 309
  22. Chapter 19. Timing properties of (Brazilian) Portuguese and (European) Spanish 325
  23. Language index 341
  24. Subject index 343
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 20.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/rllt.14.15pin/html
Scroll to top button