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In:Noun Valency
Edited by Olga Spevak
[Studies in Language Companion Series 158] 2014
► pp. 183–210

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Chapter 8. Noun valency in Latin

 | University of Toulouse 2
Published online: 19 June 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.158.08spe
This article has two objectives. The first is to present an account of valency nouns in Latin. Lyons’ typology (1977) envisaging three orders of entities is useful for predicting the number and type of complements used with various nouns. Expansions of all the categories are distinguished: concrete entities, relational nouns, agent nouns, verbal nouns, and nouns expressing qualities. Furthermore, Latin shows interesting phenomena closely related to noun valency, namely nominalization of verbal notions in Early Latin and the construction of the dominant participle. The second objective is to examine argument marking at the noun phrase level. The genitive is the “adnominal” case par excellence; other cases (the dative, accusative, and ablative) as well as prepositional phrases are atypical noun complements in Latin, and furthermore they are often restricted to specific categories of nouns.
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