Cover not available

In:Word Order Change in Acquisition and Language Contact: Essays in honour of Ans van Kemenade
Edited by Bettelou Los and Pieter de Haan
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 243] 2017
► pp. 291–310

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 13
Parts and particles

The story of dē

 | University of Manchester
Published online: 14 December 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.243.13vin
Abstract
All too often particles are treated as diagnostics of other categories and structures which are the real focus of attention. In the present chapter by contrast we investigate the history of one particle, Latin dē, and the structural roles which it has come to have in the Romance languages. We look particularly at compound prepositions like Italian dopo (< de post) and French devant (< de ab ante) which include dē as one of their components and contrast them with complex prepositions like à côté de in which de marks the complement. We seek thereby to shed light on the diachronic processes by which over time particles move from the status of non-projecting words to become phrasal heads in their own right.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2. The history of de
  • 3.Excursus on word order
  • 4.Compound adverbs and prepositions with de
  • 5. Analysis
    • 5.1PP as argument of P
    • 5.2 P as the marker of dependency
    • 5.3Complex prepositions
    • 5.4P as part of a compound
  • 6.Consequences and conclusions
    • 6.1 What was the original syntactic configuration underlying the sequences of de + adverb/preposition?
    • 6.2What processes of morphosyntactic change caused the fusion of two prepositions or particles?
    • 6.3What can such developments tell us about the more general historical mechanisms which affect prepositions and particles?
    • 6.4What light do developments like this throw on the place of particles and prepositions within a theory of the parts of speech?
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (39)
References
Abeillé, Anne, Bonami, Olivier, Godard, Danièle & Tseng, Jesse. 2006. The syntax of French à and de: An HPSG analysis. In Dimensions of the Syntax and Semantics of Prepositions, Patrick Saint-Dizier (ed.), 147–162. Dordrecht: Springer.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Adams, J.N. 2013. Social Variation and the Latin Language. Cambridge: CUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bauer, Brigitte. 1995. The Emergence and Development of SVO Patterning in Latin and French. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. The development of the comparative in Latin texts. In Early and Late Latin: Continuity or Change?, J.N. Adams & Nigel Vincent (eds), 313–339. Cambridge: CUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biberauer, Theresa & Sheehan, Michelle. 2011. Introduction: Particles through a modern lens. The Linguistic Review 28: 387–410.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bodelot, Colette. 2011. Sur la complémentation de l’adjectif en latin: Questions de valence, d’incidence, de rection. Revue de Philologie 85: 7–23.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clackson, James. 2004. The word-order pattern magna cum laude in Latin and Sabellian. In Indo-European Perspectives: Studies in Honour of Anna Morpurgo Davies, John Penney (ed.), 391–404. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danckaert, Lieven. 2012. Latin Embedded Clauses. The Left Periphery [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 184]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Devine, Andrew & Stephens, Laurence. 2006. Latin Word Order. Structured Meaning and Information. Oxford: OUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
den Dikken, Marcel. 1995. Particles. On the Syntax of Verb-Particle, Triadic and Causative Constructions. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dunkel, George. 2014. Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, 2 Vols. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emonds, Joseph. 1985. A Unified Theory of Syntactic Categories. Dordrecht: Foris.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fagard, Benjamin & Mardale, Alexandru. 2012. The pace of grammaticalization and the evolution of prepositional systems: Data from Romance. Folia Linguistica 46: 303–340.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fagard, Benjamin & De Mulder, Walter. 2007. La formation des prépositions complexes: Grammaticalisation ou lexicalisation? Langue Française 156: 9–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferraresi, Gisella & Goldbach, Maria. 2011. Particles and sentence structure: A historical perspective. In Syntactic Structures and Morphological Information, Uwe Junghanns & Luka Szucsich (eds), 101–127. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fortson, Benjamin. 2010. Reconsidering the history of Latin and Sabellic adpositional morphosyntax. The American Journal of Philology 131: 121–154.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Franco, Ludovico. 2016. Axial parts, phi-features and degrammaticalization: The case of Italian preso/pressi in diachrony. Transactions of the Philological Society 114: 149–170.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huddleston, Rodney & Pullum, Geoffrey K. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1973. The base rules for prepositional phrases. In A Festschrift for Morris Halle, Stephen Anderson & Paul Kiparsky (eds), 345–366. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ledgeway, Adam. 2009. Grammatica diacronica del napoletano [Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie 350]. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Los, Bettelou, Blom, Corrien, Booij, Geert, Elenbaas, Marion & van Kemenade, Ans. 2012. Morphosyntactic Change. A Comparative Study of Particles and Prefixes. Cambridge: CUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthews, Peter. 2013. Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, 3rd edn. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm. 1890–1906. Grammaire des langues romanes, Vol III: Syntaxe. Paris: Welter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Molinelli, Piera. 1996. Casi e preposizioni in latino: Lo sviluppo del genitivo e del dativo. Una prospettiva (anche) sociolinguistica. Linguistica e Filologia 3: 73–125.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nocentini, Alberto. 1992. Preposizioni e posposizioni in oscoumbro. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 77: 196–242.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pinkster, Harm. 1990. Latin Syntax and Semantics. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. The Oxford Latin Syntax. Oxford: OUP.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plank, Frans (ed.). 1995. Double Case. Agreement by Suffixaufnahme. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poppe, Erich. 1963. Studi sui significati di ‘da’. Bollettino Annuale dell’Accademia della Crusca 21: 265–387.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roy, Isabelle & Svenonius, Peter. 2009. Complex prepositions. In Autour de la préposition, Jacques François, Éric Gilbert, Claude Guimier & Maxi Krause (eds), 105–116. Caen: Presses universitaires de Caen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Svenonius, Peter. 1996. Review of den Dikken (1995). Language 74: 816–820.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tikkanen, Karin. 2011. A Sabellian Case Grammar. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toivonen, Ida. 2003. Non-Projecting Words: A Case Study of Swedish Verbal Particles. Dordrecht: Kluwer.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Vaan, Michiel. 2008. Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vincent, Nigel. 1997. Prepositions. In The Dialects of Italy, Martin Maiden & Mair Parry (eds), 208–213. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1999. The evolution of c-structure. Prepositions and PPs from Indo-European to Romance. Linguistics 37: 1111–1154.  Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vincent, Nigel & Börjars, Kersti. 2010. Complements of adjectives: A diachronic approach. In Proceedings of the LFG2010 Conference, Carleton University, Miriam Butt & Tracy Holloway King (eds), 458–478. Stanford CA: CSLI. <[URL]>
. 2016. Heads and history. Paper presented at HeadLex 2016, Polish Academy of Sciences. 10 <[URL]>
Weiss, Michael. 2009. Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin. Ann Arbor MI: Beech Stave Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Lehmann, Christian
2019. Complex spatial prepositions from Latin to Castilian. Revue Romane. Langue et littérature. International Journal of Romance Languages and Literatures 54:1 ► pp. 93 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue