B. W. Fortson IV, Language and rhythm in Plautus: Synchronic and diachronic studies

Benjamin W. Fortson IV, Language and rhythm in Plautus: Synchronic and diachronic studies, Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter, coll. Sozomena / Studies in the Recovery of Ancient Texts 3, 2008. 250 pages.

• ISBN 9783110205930
  
• $98.00

Recension par Ariana Traill (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2009.08.41.

Présentation de l'éditeur:

The plays of Plautus have long been recognized as a unique mine of information about the spoken Latin of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. But detailed and up-to-date linguistic treatments of the Plautine meters and other phenomena in his plays have hitherto been lacking. This book seeks to remedy that gap by presenting a series of case-studies to glean information about the synchronic grammar of Plautine Latin, in particular the rhythmic organization of Latin speech and the effects of syntactic processes on Latin prosodic phonology. Some of the topics, such as enjambement and the aphaeresis of “est”, have never before received such treatment, while others, such as Meyer's and Luchs's laws, split resolutions, and iambic shortening, are provided a firmer linguistic footing, and fuller discussion of allied issues, than hitherto. Topics in Italic syntax (such as the syntactic structure of adpositional phrases and their history) and in Indo-European morphophonology (such as the prosodic status of finite verbs) are dealt with as well, as is an investigation into the effects of pragmatics on the rhythmic organization of phrases. The book will be of interest to classicists, comparative philologists, and general linguists.

Table des matières:

Chapter One: Preliminaries

Chapter Two: Plautine Iambo-Trochaics

Chapter Three: The Linguistic Background of Luchs's Law

Chapter Four: Meyer's and Jacobsohn's Laws

Chapter Five: Enjambement

Chapter Six: The Aphaeresis of Est

Chapter Seven: Breuis Breuians I

Chapter Eight: Breuis Breuians II

Chapter Nine: Towards a Reconstruction of the Prosody of Plautine Latin Speech