4 Parts of speech in the Romance grammars of the Renaissance
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Laurent Vallance
Abstract
Inspired by Latin grammars from Antiquity, the first grammars of Romance languages were based on examination of the parts of speech - varying in number from three to ten - and their properties. The parts of speech are generally classified as variable (the most important, e. g. nouns or verbs) or invariable, and denoted by adapting the traditional terms; calques or invented words can be found only in Italy. Double compound forms of verbs in French were already registered. All grammarians noted the existence of a new part of speech, the definite article, but only Palsgrave and a couple of French and Italian authors mentioned also the indefinite article, especially Salviati, who baptised it accompagnanome. Corso added interesting observations about morphology by analysing the formation of adverbs in Italian, which can happen by derivation or composition, and by recognising that there are speech units smaller than words with their own semantic value: inseparable prepositions (i. e. prefixes) and suffixes.
Abstract
Inspired by Latin grammars from Antiquity, the first grammars of Romance languages were based on examination of the parts of speech - varying in number from three to ten - and their properties. The parts of speech are generally classified as variable (the most important, e. g. nouns or verbs) or invariable, and denoted by adapting the traditional terms; calques or invented words can be found only in Italy. Double compound forms of verbs in French were already registered. All grammarians noted the existence of a new part of speech, the definite article, but only Palsgrave and a couple of French and Italian authors mentioned also the indefinite article, especially Salviati, who baptised it accompagnanome. Corso added interesting observations about morphology by analysing the formation of adverbs in Italian, which can happen by derivation or composition, and by recognising that there are speech units smaller than words with their own semantic value: inseparable prepositions (i. e. prefixes) and suffixes.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
- Table of Contents VII
- Abbreviations XI
- Introduction 1
-
I. Romance word classes: theoretical and historical foundations
- 1 Theoretical foundation for a classification of words 13
- 2 How to classify words 41
- 3 Word classes in the history of Western grammar 69
- 4 Parts of speech in the Romance grammars of the Renaissance 97
-
II. Word classes in the major Romance languages
- 5 Nouns 117
- 6 Adjectives 147
- 7 Determiners 177
- 8 Pronouns 207
- 9 Quantifiers 237
- 10 Negation and negative expressions 265
- 11 Verb classes 297
- 12 Auxiliary verbs 325
- 13 Grammatical categories of the verb 345
- 14 Verbal categories expressing syntactic dependencies 367
- 15 Adverbs 401
- 16 Focalisers 431
- 17 Modal particles 449
- 18 Prepositions 471
- 19 Conjunctions 499
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III. Word classes in smaller Romance varieties
- 20 Word classes in Occitan 527
- 21 Word classes in Sardinian 549
- 22 Word classes in Romansh 575
- 23 Word classes in Ladin 607
- 24 Word classes in Northern Italian dialects 633
- 25 Word classes in Southern Italian dialects 661
- 26 Word classes in Romance-related Creoles 689
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IV. Romance word classes and their interfaces: new horizons
- 27 Word classes and psycholinguistics 725
- 28 Word classes and learner varieties 743
- 29 Word classes and corpus linguistics 769
- 30 Word classes and neurolinguistics 797
- 31 Exploring the behaviour of connectives within a textometric perspective 819
- Index 843
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
- Table of Contents VII
- Abbreviations XI
- Introduction 1
-
I. Romance word classes: theoretical and historical foundations
- 1 Theoretical foundation for a classification of words 13
- 2 How to classify words 41
- 3 Word classes in the history of Western grammar 69
- 4 Parts of speech in the Romance grammars of the Renaissance 97
-
II. Word classes in the major Romance languages
- 5 Nouns 117
- 6 Adjectives 147
- 7 Determiners 177
- 8 Pronouns 207
- 9 Quantifiers 237
- 10 Negation and negative expressions 265
- 11 Verb classes 297
- 12 Auxiliary verbs 325
- 13 Grammatical categories of the verb 345
- 14 Verbal categories expressing syntactic dependencies 367
- 15 Adverbs 401
- 16 Focalisers 431
- 17 Modal particles 449
- 18 Prepositions 471
- 19 Conjunctions 499
-
III. Word classes in smaller Romance varieties
- 20 Word classes in Occitan 527
- 21 Word classes in Sardinian 549
- 22 Word classes in Romansh 575
- 23 Word classes in Ladin 607
- 24 Word classes in Northern Italian dialects 633
- 25 Word classes in Southern Italian dialects 661
- 26 Word classes in Romance-related Creoles 689
-
IV. Romance word classes and their interfaces: new horizons
- 27 Word classes and psycholinguistics 725
- 28 Word classes and learner varieties 743
- 29 Word classes and corpus linguistics 769
- 30 Word classes and neurolinguistics 797
- 31 Exploring the behaviour of connectives within a textometric perspective 819
- Index 843
