Startseite Altertumswissenschaften & Ägyptologie Potest + passive infinitives: auxiliary or impersonal verb?
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Potest + passive infinitives: auxiliary or impersonal verb?

  • Adriana M. Manfredini
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Volume II Clause and Discourse
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Volume II Clause and Discourse

Abstract

The Oxford Latin Dictionary s.v 1.c considers instances of possum with passive infinitives as examples of the impersonal use of the verb, where potest is interpreted as possibile est. It is the aim of this paper to re-examine this socalled impersonal value from a syntactic approach. Taking into account the acknowledged auxiliary status of possum in Latin, and its function as a modal operator, I will initially argue that the raising of possum to the inflection node in the sentence is responsible for the fact that potest remains an auxiliary verb in these instances, while it is the infinitive phrase under its scope that realizes an impersonal verb frame and transfers its corresponding grammatical features to the auxiliary. Nevertheless, a further comparison of the data with examples of impersonal predicates of the type of licet will show that a syntactic interpretation of potest as impersonal verb is in no way blocked. Data are mainly taken from the Oxford Latin Dictionary and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and restricted to the classical period.

Abstract

The Oxford Latin Dictionary s.v 1.c considers instances of possum with passive infinitives as examples of the impersonal use of the verb, where potest is interpreted as possibile est. It is the aim of this paper to re-examine this socalled impersonal value from a syntactic approach. Taking into account the acknowledged auxiliary status of possum in Latin, and its function as a modal operator, I will initially argue that the raising of possum to the inflection node in the sentence is responsible for the fact that potest remains an auxiliary verb in these instances, while it is the infinitive phrase under its scope that realizes an impersonal verb frame and transfers its corresponding grammatical features to the auxiliary. Nevertheless, a further comparison of the data with examples of impersonal predicates of the type of licet will show that a syntactic interpretation of potest as impersonal verb is in no way blocked. Data are mainly taken from the Oxford Latin Dictionary and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and restricted to the classical period.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Clause
  5. Constructions
  6. Linguistic theory in daily lexicographical practice: dealing with arguments and satellites in the entries of regnare and nectere in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae 1
  7. The expression of knowledge in Latin: cognosco, nosco, scio, nescio and ignoro 20
  8. Los verbos latinos timeo y metuo: sintaxis, semántica y pragmática 48
  9. Potest + passive infinitives: auxiliary or impersonal verb? 67
  10. Ruinam dare : les complexités d’une construction latine à verbe support 79
  11. On the use of the ablative of the gerund and the nominative of the present participle in Latin technical literature 96
  12. Praedicativum and subject complement: a question revisited in light of the Latin verb sto 116
  13. Der lateinische Dativ: neue Wege in Transitivität und funktionaler Semantik 134
  14. Between syntax and magic: some peculiarities of nominal syntax in Latin curse tablets 155
  15. Les complétives en quoniam : étude à partir du latin biblique 174
  16. Semantics
  17. Animacy in Latin: explaining some peripheral phenomena 199
  18. Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres: Sapir’s typology and different perspectives on totality 219
  19. General extenders in Latin 241
  20. Les parcours sémantiques vers l’adversatif : une approche typologique des langues anciennes 259
  21. The diffraction of iam: contextual effects in interpretation 280
  22. Le système latin de la déixis et de l’endophore : l’évolution linguistique chez Sénèque 296
  23. Discourse
  24. Tense and discourse
  25. On the expression of relative time in Latin narrations 319
  26. Progression thématique et types de séquences chez quelques historiens romains 339
  27. Engaging the audience: an intersubjectivity approach to the historic present tense in Latin 351
  28. ‘I hereby present the use of the Latin first-person perfect indicative as a performative’ 374
  29. Politeness and identity
  30. Expressing happiness as a manifestation of positive politeness in Roman comedy 393
  31. Impoliteness in Plautus’ comedies 413
  32. How to assess politeness in response to impoliteness: some examples from Latin comedy 431
  33. Cicero vs. Mark Antony: identity construction and ingroup/outgroup formation in Philippics One and Three 448
  34. Ego sum Amphitruo: Selbstidentifikation in der römischen Komödie 464
  35. Index 479
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110678222-004

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Clause
  5. Constructions
  6. Linguistic theory in daily lexicographical practice: dealing with arguments and satellites in the entries of regnare and nectere in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae 1
  7. The expression of knowledge in Latin: cognosco, nosco, scio, nescio and ignoro 20
  8. Los verbos latinos timeo y metuo: sintaxis, semántica y pragmática 48
  9. Potest + passive infinitives: auxiliary or impersonal verb? 67
  10. Ruinam dare : les complexités d’une construction latine à verbe support 79
  11. On the use of the ablative of the gerund and the nominative of the present participle in Latin technical literature 96
  12. Praedicativum and subject complement: a question revisited in light of the Latin verb sto 116
  13. Der lateinische Dativ: neue Wege in Transitivität und funktionaler Semantik 134
  14. Between syntax and magic: some peculiarities of nominal syntax in Latin curse tablets 155
  15. Les complétives en quoniam : étude à partir du latin biblique 174
  16. Semantics
  17. Animacy in Latin: explaining some peripheral phenomena 199
  18. Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres: Sapir’s typology and different perspectives on totality 219
  19. General extenders in Latin 241
  20. Les parcours sémantiques vers l’adversatif : une approche typologique des langues anciennes 259
  21. The diffraction of iam: contextual effects in interpretation 280
  22. Le système latin de la déixis et de l’endophore : l’évolution linguistique chez Sénèque 296
  23. Discourse
  24. Tense and discourse
  25. On the expression of relative time in Latin narrations 319
  26. Progression thématique et types de séquences chez quelques historiens romains 339
  27. Engaging the audience: an intersubjectivity approach to the historic present tense in Latin 351
  28. ‘I hereby present the use of the Latin first-person perfect indicative as a performative’ 374
  29. Politeness and identity
  30. Expressing happiness as a manifestation of positive politeness in Roman comedy 393
  31. Impoliteness in Plautus’ comedies 413
  32. How to assess politeness in response to impoliteness: some examples from Latin comedy 431
  33. Cicero vs. Mark Antony: identity construction and ingroup/outgroup formation in Philippics One and Three 448
  34. Ego sum Amphitruo: Selbstidentifikation in der römischen Komödie 464
  35. Index 479
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Heruntergeladen am 8.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110678222-004/html
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