Impersonnal Constructions, Dative and Meta-Informative Structure in Ancient Greek

7/27/2019 Impersonnal Constructions, Dative and Meta-Informative Structure in Ancient Greek

1/55

WRUT-CELTA Workshop, September 2013IN SEARCH OF THE COMMON GROUND BETWEEN THE DISTRIBUTED GRAMMAR MODEL AND THE

THEORY OF GROUNDING OF MODAL STATEMENTS

Jean-Christophe PitavyParLAnCES (CIEREC) Universit Jean-Monnet, Saint-tienne (France)membre associ de lUMR 5189 HiSoMA (Histoire et Sources des Mondes Antiques)

Impersonal Constructions,

Dative and Meta-Informative Structure inAncient Greek


2/55

nothing personal


3/55

quelques distinctionssome distinctions

impersonalas an inappropriate term

anonymous subjectimpersonnel: sujet syntaxique non exprim, non

identifiable = sujet anonyme(H. W

odarczyk 1994)


4/55

phnomnes atmosphriquesweather expressions

impersonalas an inappropriate term

impersonnel: sujet syntaxique non exprim, non

identifiable = sujet anonyme (H. W

odarczyk 1994)


5/55


franais il pleut, a tonneEnglish it rains, its windy

deutsch es regnet


6/55


grechei

[it] rains

astrptei

[there] is a flash of lightning (Duhoux : 1992)

bront(i) it thunders

nephei

it snows


7/55


No referential subject

No agent


8/55


langues sujet obligatoirenon Pro-drop languages

franais : il pleut, il vente, il fait + Adj.English: it rains, it is + Adj. (cold, hot, chilly),it issnowing

deutsch: es regnet, es blitzt, es donnert, es ist +Adj. (kalt)


9/55


langues sujet obligatoirenon Pro-drop languages

il pleutit rains

Sujet posticheDummy subject

non representative pronoun.


10/55


vrais impersonnels

pronom non restituable, non remplaable

*Elle pleut.Hey, *why are you raining the day I forgot myumbrella ?

*Lui, il pleut.Ilpleut, cest tout ce quilsait faire

it rains, theres nothing else it can do

(lyrics from a song by Brigitte Fontaine)


11/55


Pro-drop Languages: no overt subject pronoun

Latin*is pluit

Italian*lui nevica, *lei pioveSpanish*l llueve

Portuguese*ele chove

Polish*on pada

Modern Greek*() *aft(s) vrhi


12/55


Ancient Greek (Pro-drop)

no unique overt pronoun for 3Sg

deictic pronoum used for identified referent


13/55


Emplois agrammaticauxagrammatical usage

Any verb has a subjecthupokemenon


14/55


Emplois agrammaticauxagrammatical usage

.ei mn o Zes.

Alce, fr. 34Alcaeus, fr. 34

Zeus pleutZeuss raining

hei sphi ho thes hsperka tosi lloisi anthrpoisi

Hrodote, III, 117

Herodotus, III, 117

Le dieu pleut pour

eux comme pour lesautres hommesThe god is raining forthem and for the restof mankind


15/55


Langues avec sujet atmosphriques SNLanguages with NP weather subjects

Russian idt dodrain goes

Polish pada niegsnow falls

Turkish yamur yayorrain rains


16/55

verbes unipersonnelsunipersonal verbs

3Sg only verbsno referential subject


17/55


rfrence indistincteindistinct reference

(Corblin)French: iland aa pleut

a mouillea dgringole thats tumbling down (itspouring with rain)

a caille thats curdling

its freezing


18/55



(Corblin)French: iland a

a sent bon ici(*il sent bon)

liter. thats smelling good here


19/55



(Corblin)a boume ?liter. does it go boom? = Whats up?a commence jaserthats beginning to gossip = People begin toa chahute dans le couloirthats heckling herea ronfle l-dedans thats snoaring in there


20/55



(Corblin)franais tout le monde, ondeutsch man, es wird (passif)

English one, they3Plpassive voice


21/55


Pas de rfrence indistincte en grec ancien?No such indistinct reference in Ancient Greek

phs [il] dit = il est dit

[(s)he] says = it is saidincises du discours directquotatives in direct speech


22/55

passif (impersonnel) sans sujet impersonal passive with pro-drop subject

Grec ancien: le sujet du passif est identifiableGreek : subject of such passive forms can be identified

,lgetai d Slna Peisistrtou tn phulakn aitontos,

antilxai Aristote/Aristotle, Const. Ath., XIV, 2 On dit que Solon, quand Pisistrate demanda une garde, sy opposa. it is said moreover that when Peisistratus asked for the guardSolon opposed the request.


23/55


Grec ancien: le sujet du passif est identifiableGreek : subject of such passive forms can be identified

homologetai mn gr tn plin hmn arkhaiottnenai

Isocrate/Isocrates, Paneg., XXIII On saccorde [pour dire] que notre cit est la plus ancienne Everyone agrees that we have the oldest city.


24/55


sujet = prdicat linfinitifSubject = infinitive predicate

dans la transformation active, devient CI local (objet)active transformation : subject becomes local CoA

,

lgousin d Slna Peisistrtou tn phulakn aitontos,antilxai Ils disent que Solon, quand Pisistrate demanda une garde, syopposa.

They say that when Peisistratus asked for the guard Solono osed the re uest.


25/55


Rapport entre ces constructions et les structurescanoniques

Relationship between such impersonal constructionsand canonical structures


26/55

passif (impersonnel) intransitifintransitive impersonal passive

latindicitur [il] est dit on dit [it] is said they say

itur

[il] est all on va [it] is gone people [usually] go


27/55


deutsches wurde viel getanzt il a t beaucoup dans on a beaucoup dans

[it] has been danced a lot people/they danced a lot

es wird nicht gearbeitet werden [il] ne sera pas travaill on ne travaillera pas it] wont be worked people wont work


28/55


turc / Turkish

bu arenada her zaman dvlmtr

Gksel & Kerslake 13.2.4il sest toujours battu lun lautre on sest toujours battu dans cette arne

it has always been fought each otherpeople have always fought [each other] in this arena


29/55


Deprem blgesine gidilmeye allyor

Gksel & Kerslake 24.4.1.4 il est essay dtre all dans la zone du sisme on essaie de rejoindre la zone

it is being tried to be gone in the earthquake area people are trying to reach )

infinitif = complment datif (-me-ye) du verbe essayer

infinitive = dative (-me-ye) object of verb to try

turc / Turkish

f ( ) f


30/55


sumphrei tn trpon toton lgesthai per autn

il est utile que lon parle de cette manire de ces

choses l It is useful to talk about such things in this way

SP (per+ Gn. autn) compl. du verbe passif (lgesthai)PP (per+ Gn. autn) = object of passive verb (lgesthai)

grec ancien?Ancient Greek?

f ( l) f


31/55


What if there is no Nominative subject NP at alland a Dative CoA?

S d f ?


32/55

Sujet au datif ?Did you mean Dative subject?

construction dcentre sur le CI local (datif),pas de sujet au nominatifDecentered constructions with local Dativeparticipant and no overt Nominative subject.

S j d if ?


33/55


Constituant au datif = exprienceurDative constituent = experiencer

S j d if ?


34/55


Tradition grammaticale: sujet , thme, topiqueTraditional grammar: confusion between subject, theme,

topic

S j d if ?


35/55


Boris a froidBoris is cold

Langue logique: on parle du sujet (Boris),

propos duquel on prdique.

In allegedly logical languages, predication is operatedabout a subject (topic = Boris).

S j d if ?


36/55



Donc Boris = sujet = nominatif

therefore Boris = subject = nominative

S j d if ?


37/55



In some languages, meta-informative structure =

to-Boris, [it] is cold

Dative subject

cf. eg. Bardal, Smitherman, Bjarnadttir et al. 2012

T d b ( tif ) t i


38/55

Types de verbes (actifs) et exprienceur(Active) verb types & experiencer

smantiquement:,verbes exprimant uneexprience (disposition psychologique, relation delesprit / de la subjectivit situation: apprciation,

valuation, jugement, prise en compte, souci, permission,possibilit, avantage, profit)

morphosyntaxiquement : 3Sg, pas de sujet (nominatif),complment au datif (+ autre complment au gnitif) +

squence (infinitif, proposition)

morpholexicalement : voix active / moyenne, (pas dediathse passive) autorisant transformation active .

T d b ( tif ) t i


39/55

Types de verbes (actifs) et exprienceur(Active) verb types & experiencer

semantically: verbs of experience (mental / subjectivedisposition toward a situation: assessment, judgment, care,concerne, permission, possibility, advantage)

morphosyntactically : 3Sg, no overt subject (nominative), datifobject (+ other Genitive local constituents) +sequence (infinitive, finite verb clause)

morpholexically : active / middle voice (no passive diathesis)allowing active transformation.

l h h d j t d


40/55

la recherche du sujet perduRaiders of the lost subject

A flexible language which can slide from animpersonal construction (experiencer = Dative) to its

equivalent personal construction (experiencer =Nominative).

Infinitive in impersonal constructions = subject?

l h h d j t d


41/55


jai le droit de =Im allowed to =

[m]est permis, possible de + inf.

[to me] is allowed, possible to+ inf.

() xesti moi

verbe tre seul : [il] [m] est to be alone: [it] is [to me]

()stin (moi)

l h h d j t d


42/55


.Lakedaimonois xestin humn phlous gensthai.

(Thucydide(s) IV, 29)

[Il] est permis aux Lacdmoniens dtre vos amis.

[it] is permitted to the Lacedaemonians to be your friends

la recherche d s jet erd


43/55


tre vos amis est permis

[il] est permis dtre vos amis.

To be your friends is permitted it is permitted to be your friends

la recherche du sujet perdu


44/55


je pense que, je dcide de =I think that, I decide to =

[il] me semble [vrai, bon] [It] seems [true, good] to me

doke moi

+ prdicat infinitif / pronom rsomptif de discours+ infinitive predicate / discourse resumptive pronoun



45/55


: [] , ; : .

Skrts : r on ka nomothtai hoi mn kall t [rga] hautnparkhontai, hoi d aiskh ? Kratlos : O moi doke toto ti.

Plato(n), Crat., 429b

Socrate : Est-ce que les lgislateurs font leur travail lun un

mieux, les autres plus mal ? Cratyle : il ne me semble pas.Socrates: Do some lawgmakers produce better, and othersworse works? Cratylus: I do not think so anymore.



46/55


doken =

personal verb meaning to seem, to be likely

xio te hma nomzontes enai ka humn dokontes

Thucydide, I, 76 [nous qui] croyons tre dignes [de cette situation] et vousdonnons cette impression

[we think] we are worthy [of the situation] and we seem this way

to you



47/55


Il semble que vous ayezrussi mintriguer.

*[le fait] que vous ayez

russi semble.

It seems that you succeeded

in puzzling me.

*That you succeeded seems.



48/55


mlei moi+ Gen.

[il] me *soucie de

[it] *cares to me about

moi d tn mn khrmtn ka latton mlei

Plato(n), Theag., 121d je ne me soucie aucunement des dpensesI do not mind so much about the fees



49/55


mlei moi+ Gen.

[il] me *soucie de

[it] *cares to me aboutthusai d ka heorta ka khoro psin mlousin di bou

Plato(n), Leg., 835e toute la vie, tout le monde se proccupe des sacrifices, desftes et des danses the chief occupation of everyone all through life consists insacrifices, feasts and dances

Personnalisation


50/55

Personnalisation Personalization

t n d Krou dlon hti hots khei prs hms hsper

t hmtera prs ekenon (Xenopho(n),Anab., I, 3, 9)Il est clair que Cyrus a exactement avec nous les mmes relationsque nous avec lui.it is clear that the relation of Cyrus to us is precisely the same as

ours to him

[il] est + adj. + que / [it] is + Adj. + thatphanern, dlon manifeste, vident / clear, self-evident

Personnalisation


51/55


phanern n hti ho Agslaos mlista tos nmois latren

(Xnopho(n),Agesil., VII)

[il] est + adj. + que + P/ [it] is + Adj. + that + Pphanern, dlon manifeste, vident / clear, self-evident

il tait manifeste quAgsilas tait le meilleur serviteur des lois.Agesilas was clearly a devoted servant of the laws.

Personnalisation


52/55


ho Agslaosphaners n mlista tos nmois latren

(Xnopho(n),Agesil., VII)

[il] est + adj. + que / [it] is + Adj. + thatphanern, dlon manifeste, vident / clear, self-evident

littr. Agsilas tait manifeste le meilleur serviteur des lois.liter. Agesilas was clear a devoted servant of the laws.

Structure mta informative


53/55

Structure mta-informativeMeta-informative structure

(/) doke (moi/soi) [il] (me/te) semble

[it] seems (to me/you)

omai/ oei (je) pense / (tu) penses (I/you) think

Structure mta-informative


54/55

Structure mta-informativeMeta-informative structure

hs eg omai

hs emodoke

hs s oei

hs sodoke


55/55

Concluding remarks

Dative constituent

subject (global CoA) = local ; the constructions presented here are not always strictly

impersonal : they are specialized both semantically(experience: affect, judgment, assessment, modalization)

and morphosyntactically (discourse content expressed byinfinitive predicate specific subject) ;

syntax : most of them diachronically result from aninversion of the specific subject (= doubled subject with

unipersonal verbs in French, English, German) Greek as flexible language : diathesis modification, meta-

informative structure maintained for the same CoA, be itsubject (nominative : ego) or object (Dative: emoi).

Impersonnal Constructions, Dative and Meta-Informative Structure in Ancient Greek

Documents

Transcript of Impersonnal Constructions, Dative and Meta-Informative Structure in Ancient Greek