Oniga Renato, Schifano Norma. Latin: A Linguistic Introduction

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Author(s): Renato Oniga; Norma Schifano
Year: 2014
Pages: 364
ISBN: 019870285X, 9780198702856
This textbook provides a detailed introduction to the study of Latin from the perspective of contemporary linguistics. It adopts some basic tenets of generative grammar in an in-depth analysis of the main phonological, morphological, and syntactic properties of Latin, and offers a step-by-step guide to the universal principles and specific parameters which shape the language, along with comparative data from English and other languages.Latin: A Linguistic Introductionis a user-friendly and essential guide to the synchronic study of Latin as a natural language. The clarity of exposition and the richness of the examples cited provide a new approach to Latin as a topic of linguistic research: although the general structure of the book is like that of a traditional Latin grammar, the discussion of grammatical rules is both more straightforward and more theoretically informed.This textbook is principally suitable for students of Latin and Romance linguistics at undergraduate level and above, but also for teachers and researchers interested in new ways of looking at the study of Latin. It differs from many other textbooks in the field by striking a valuable balance between the longstanding tradition of classical philology and the innovations of contemporary linguistics.Preface to the English edition
List of tables
Abbreviations
Introduction: from traditional grammar to modern linguistics
Part I: Phonology
The Latin alphabet
Phonemes
Pronunciation
Prosody and metrics
Part Il: Morphology
Words, roots, and stems
Parts of speech
A theory of inflection
Noun declensions
Adjective declensions
Adverbs
Pronouns
Numerals
Verbal inflection
Derivation
Composition
Part III: Syntax
Preliminary notions: valency and theta-roles
Phrases
The simple sentence
Case theory
Case Syntax
The compound sentence: coordination
The complex sentence: embedded clauses
Interrogative clauses
Relative clauses
Infinitival clauses
Participial clauses
Adverbial clauses