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Qui pro quo in Plautus’ grammar

  • Elena V. Zheltova ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: January 13, 2025
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Abstract

Qui pro quo is an excellent means of creating a comic effect in ancient drama, particularly in the comedies of Plautus. In this study, qui pro quo is metaphorically transferred from drama to grammar and applied to the phenomenon of substituting one grammatical category for another. First, I will introduce the notion of canonical and non-canonical grammatical meaning, which is crucial for the idea of grammatical qui pro quo. The concept of oppositions and neutralisation will be proposed as a scientific hypothesis to explain why language employs this strategy. Then I will analyse the qui pro quo technique within the categories of tense and mood (e.g., Praesens pro futuro, Futurum pro praesente, Imperfectum pro praesente, Indicativus pro coniunctivo, Infinitivus pro indicativo, Indicativus pro imperativo, etc., nine patterns in all). After considering verbal categories, the sentential qui pro quo will be observed in five types of sentences with different illocutionary force. Finally, the effect of the phenomenon in question on the insubordinate ut-, si-, and quasi-clauses will be shown. In the end, I will summarise the findings and explain the mechanism of grammatical qui pro quo as manifestation of the neutralisation principle.


Corresponding author: Elena V. Zheltova, Department of Classics, Saint Petersburg State University, 7–9 Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034 Russia, E-mail:

Acknowledgements

This paper was presented and discussed at the 14th International Colloquium on Late and Vulgar Latin, held at the University of Ghent (Belgium), 5–9 September 2022. I am grateful to Pierluigi Cuzzolin, Silvia Pieroni and other participants of the Colloquium as well as to the anonymous reviewers of this article for the discussion and insightful advice which helped me to clarify my thoughts on the matter and to improve this article. All flaws and shortcomings are my own responsibility. I also express my gratitude to St Petersburg State University for supporting this project (Pure ID: 9720178: Participation in the 14th International Colloquium on Late and Vulgar Latin [Latin vulgaire – latin tardif XIV], Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of Ghent University [Belgium], 5–9 September 2022).

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Published Online: 2025-01-13
Published in Print: 2024-05-27

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