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This paper analyzes directive expressions in Plautus’s Curculio , a comedy with unusual characteristics. The analysis takes into account the social status of those characters who give and receive directive expressions, as well as their gender and the pragmatic situations which the dramatic context affords them. As a means of explaining the findings here, a distinction is drawn between various subtypes of speech acts according to the degree of obligation required in terms of compliance with the orders given. Also, we will attempt to assess the extent to which it is possible to associate a specific type of modality (impressive, declarative, interrogative) with the coding of orders involving a greater or lesser degree of obligation of compliance. The analysis confirms earlier findings on the existence of an interaction in this comedy between pragmatic, dramatic and sociolinguistic aspects in the expression of directives.

A couple of years ago Colette Bodelot (2014, Les propositions complétives dans la Chronique originale de Frédégaire (I.4, chap. 1–90). In Piera Molinelli, Pierluigi Cuzzolin & Chiara Fedriani (eds.), Latin vulgaire – Latin tardif, Vol.II , 183–203. Bergamo: Bergamo University Press, Sestante Ed.) discussed in a rich and worthy paper the use of direct and indirect speech by Fredegarius, one of the most representative Merovingian storytellers, and showed that he rather used the subjunctive instead of the Accusativus cum Infinitivo (AcI). Therefore, I decided to take again into account this author and his historical work which on the other hand had been object of a keen inquiry by Lyliane Sznajder (2005, Stratégies de prises en charge énonciatives dans le discours indirect. In G. Calboli (ed.), Papers on grammar IX, 2, Latina Lingua , 749–761. Roma: Herder.), and I started from these two papers. I myself had considered the direct and indirect discourse in Latin and Indo-European languages (Calboli, in print), however in that paper the core of my inquiry was rather the AcI as a peculiar construction of the indirect speech. In order to choose a specific text with all stylistic implications, I concentrate myself on the clash between the king Theuderich and saint Columbanus, where I could compare the Vita Columbani by Jonas and Fredegarius’ Chronicle . I could therefore take into account also a kind of epic style proper of the Histories of Saints, which suggested the use of AcI, a typical construction of the most authoritative Latin. In this case Fredegarius’ text was a reproduction of Jonas’ text, but with some differences in the use of subordinate clause: Jonas employed AcI, Fredegarius the simple subjunctive. I took into account also the use of Gregor of Tour, and pointed out a fluctuation, in Banniard’s (2012, Le latin classique existe-t-it. In Biville Frédérique, Marie-Karine Lhommé & Daniel Vallat (eds.), Latin vulgaire – Latin tardif IX , 57–78. Lyon: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerannée) sense, which produced in Merovingian Latin a larger frame of constructions than in classical and imperial Latin. This depended also upon the abandon of some constraints which in classical and postclassical Latin reduced the number of possible clauses. The following passage was the reduction of such a frame in Carolingian Latin. In previous Merovingian language, AcI was consistently challenged by subjunctive, both introduced by conjunctions of subordination ( quod, quia, quoniam , etc.) or without any conjunction in a kind of simple subjunctive. This phenomenon was connected with the expansion of subjunctive, in particular of pluperfect, which was extended in most Romance languages (cf. Stotz 1998: 333, Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters . Vierter Band. Formenlehre, Syntax und Stilistik . München: C. H. Beck), and in Merovingian Latin was employed also instead of indicative (cf. Vielliard 1927: 224, Le latin des diplômes royaux et chartes privées de l’époque mérovingienne . Paris: Honoré Champion). Therefore, I highlighted that these uses in Merovingian Latin have to be considered variations and enlargements of the linguistic frame rather than mistakes as they would be considered from the point of view of classical Latin, though they were the product of a decomposition of Latin, in particular of the cases system.

This paper plugs a gap in the literature by providing a corpus-based diachronic semantic analysis of the preposition secundum while also contributing to a larger body of cognitive-functional studies of prepositions. The data, retrieved from the Latin Library corpus prose section and spanning a period of over 800 years, are analyzed from both a qualitative and a quantitative point of view. The meanings of secundum are grouped into three cognitive-functional domains (the spatio-temporal one, the domain of logical relations and the (inter)subjective domain) within and across which metaphorical and metonymic links are identified. On the basis of these data, a conceptual space is drawn on which four semantic maps are carved, representing four different stages of evolution in the semantics of secundum . The semantic change undergone by secundum supports the idea of the centrality of the spatio-temporal domains and shows a gradual tendency towards (inter)subjectification – in line with a plethora of studies within grammaticalization theory and semantic change. Particularly interesting is the development of the meanings of evidentiality and attribution, two meanings that had been previously overlooked. The semantic space identified has potential cross-linguistic applications.

Karl Barwick held the stance that Stoics developed a doctrine of tropes and figures. After revising Barwick’s arguments – following the path traced, among others, by Baratin, Desbordes, Schenkeveld and Ax – we have concluded that Barwick’s assumption lacks a solid foundation. Thus, τρόπος and σχῆμα are not attested as rhetorical terms among the Stoics; furthermore, the alleged opposition between λέξις ‘Einzelwort’ and λόγος ‘zusammenhängende Rede’ – which is the keystone of Barwick’s reconstruction – does not take place in Stoic dialectics. We have also shown that the doctrine of Latinitas ~ Ἑλληνισμός is not only peculiar to Stoic-oriented grammarians, and that specially by pointing to an Ars anonyma excerpted by the Augustean grammarian Verrius Flaccus. Future research on the origin of tropes and figures must focus on Theophrastus and the Peripatetic School, leaving aside the Stoic hypothesis.

The present paper is devoted to the linguistic analysis of the tabellae defixionum , envisaging in particular some syntactic and semantic traits that might be considered as crucial for the analysis and interpretation of the curse tablets. In the first part, a basic description of the tabellae defixionum as to their historical and cultural context is provided; in the second part, cursing is analyzed according to the speech act theory; and in the third part some relevant features of the variety of Latin used are discussed, especially modality – the usage of the subjunctive mood and the semantics of the verb posse . Additional comments are given on the usage of negation, deixis and quantification.