John Benjamins Publishing Company
What role for inscriptions in the study of syntax and syntactic change in the old Indo-European languages?
Abstract
It happens that scholars dealing with syntactic problems (especially of a theoretical nature) tend to dismiss inscriptional records of ancient I.-E. languages as being “not useful” or “too difficult to investigate”. In this paper, I will try firstly to understand where this attitude towards inscriptions originates from. Secondly, I will present some case-studies useful to shed light on the specific characteristics of inscriptions, which are not only texts but also concrete objects, and I will explore the pros and cons of the integration of epigraphic texts in the study of syntactic problems in the case of ancient languages. Finally, I will provide some reflections on the fact that scholars who would like to use inscriptions in their studies still do not have suitable digital tools at their disposal.**
Abstract
It happens that scholars dealing with syntactic problems (especially of a theoretical nature) tend to dismiss inscriptional records of ancient I.-E. languages as being “not useful” or “too difficult to investigate”. In this paper, I will try firstly to understand where this attitude towards inscriptions originates from. Secondly, I will present some case-studies useful to shed light on the specific characteristics of inscriptions, which are not only texts but also concrete objects, and I will explore the pros and cons of the integration of epigraphic texts in the study of syntactic problems in the case of ancient languages. Finally, I will provide some reflections on the fact that scholars who would like to use inscriptions in their studies still do not have suitable digital tools at their disposal.**
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Historical syntax 3
-
Syntactic change
- Manner deixis as source of grammatical markers in Indo-European languages 35
- Time for change 61
-
Syntactic reconstruction
- Reconstructing non-canonical argument structure for Proto-Indo-European 95
- An approach to syntactic reconstruction 117
- Anatolian morphosyntax 155
-
Historical syntax and corpus linguistics
- Treebanks in historical linguistic research 187
- Traces of discourse configurationality in older Indo-European languages? 203
- Studying word order changes in Latin 233
- Problematizing syndetic coordination 251
- What role for inscriptions in the study of syntax and syntactic change in the old Indo-European languages? 271
-
Historical syntax and language contact
- The Gulf of Guinea creoles 293
- Syntactic diversity and change in Austroasiatic languages 317
- Register of Subjects 341
- Register of Languages 345
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Historical syntax 3
-
Syntactic change
- Manner deixis as source of grammatical markers in Indo-European languages 35
- Time for change 61
-
Syntactic reconstruction
- Reconstructing non-canonical argument structure for Proto-Indo-European 95
- An approach to syntactic reconstruction 117
- Anatolian morphosyntax 155
-
Historical syntax and corpus linguistics
- Treebanks in historical linguistic research 187
- Traces of discourse configurationality in older Indo-European languages? 203
- Studying word order changes in Latin 233
- Problematizing syndetic coordination 251
- What role for inscriptions in the study of syntax and syntactic change in the old Indo-European languages? 271
-
Historical syntax and language contact
- The Gulf of Guinea creoles 293
- Syntactic diversity and change in Austroasiatic languages 317
- Register of Subjects 341
- Register of Languages 345
