On tense and mood in conditional clauses from Early to Late Latin
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Gerd V.M. Haverling
Abstract
In Early and Classical Latin the future perfect is often met with in the protasis of conditional clauses referring to the future. The function is to indicate anteriority in the future. From Classical Latin onwards there is a tendency to use the future perfect in such clauses even when the anterior function is not always very clear, such as in expressions like ‘if I can’, ‘if I have’ or ‘if I live’. In Late Latin, where this usage is quite common, it often seems to be regarded as indicating not tense but mood. In some cases the indicative of the past tenses indicate irreality in Early and Classical Latin and in Late Latin we may encounter the indicative of the imperfect tense in potential and irreal functions. In Late Latin we sometimes meet periphrases with habere in the apodosis of conditional clauses, a usage which would later develop into the conditional mood of the Romance languages.
Abstract
In Early and Classical Latin the future perfect is often met with in the protasis of conditional clauses referring to the future. The function is to indicate anteriority in the future. From Classical Latin onwards there is a tendency to use the future perfect in such clauses even when the anterior function is not always very clear, such as in expressions like ‘if I can’, ‘if I have’ or ‘if I live’. In Late Latin, where this usage is quite common, it often seems to be regarded as indicating not tense but mood. In some cases the indicative of the past tenses indicate irreality in Early and Classical Latin and in Late Latin we may encounter the indicative of the imperfect tense in potential and irreal functions. In Late Latin we sometimes meet periphrases with habere in the apodosis of conditional clauses, a usage which would later develop into the conditional mood of the Romance languages.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
- On tense and mood in conditional clauses from Early to Late Latin 13
- The fate of the subjunctive in late Middle Persian 57
- The negated imperative in Russian and other Slavic languages 79
- Grammaticalisation of verbs into temporal and modal markers in Australian languages 107
- Aspect and tense in counterfactual main clauses 133
- On non-canonical modal clause junction in Turkic 159
- Reference, aspectuality and modality in ante-preterit (pluperfect) in Romance languages 173
- Subjects and objects with Latin habere and some of its Romance descendants 211
- Diachrony and typology in the history of Cree (Algonquian, Algic) 223
- Typological change in Vedic 261
- On the evolution of verbal aspect in insular Celtic 299
- The anticausative and related categories in the Old Germanic languages 329
- Directionality, case and actionality in Hittite 383
- The case of unaccusatives in Classical Portuguese 411
- Some historical developments of the verb in Neo-Aramaic 425
- Contributors 435
- Index 437
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
- On tense and mood in conditional clauses from Early to Late Latin 13
- The fate of the subjunctive in late Middle Persian 57
- The negated imperative in Russian and other Slavic languages 79
- Grammaticalisation of verbs into temporal and modal markers in Australian languages 107
- Aspect and tense in counterfactual main clauses 133
- On non-canonical modal clause junction in Turkic 159
- Reference, aspectuality and modality in ante-preterit (pluperfect) in Romance languages 173
- Subjects and objects with Latin habere and some of its Romance descendants 211
- Diachrony and typology in the history of Cree (Algonquian, Algic) 223
- Typological change in Vedic 261
- On the evolution of verbal aspect in insular Celtic 299
- The anticausative and related categories in the Old Germanic languages 329
- Directionality, case and actionality in Hittite 383
- The case of unaccusatives in Classical Portuguese 411
- Some historical developments of the verb in Neo-Aramaic 425
- Contributors 435
- Index 437
