Классические языки и типология языкового маркирования [Alexander Zheltov, Elena Zheltova: Latin and Greek in the Context of Role Marking Typology]

Abstract

The article analyzes the role-marking typology in Latin and Greek. It offers an original interpretation of the phenomena which are regarded as the elements of non-accusativity in Latin. The first part of the article discusses the theoretical background of the problem. The second part argues that case marking can be influenced not only by the semantic role, but also by the so called animacy hierarchy or deictic dimension. Some non-standard case markings in Latin can be explained by the cumulative character of interrelations between the role and deictic dimensions. The influence of animacy hierarchy in Latin is demonstrated by the analysis of ablativus auctoris / instrument! and ablativus separationis consructions, the distribution of dative case functions, interrelations between declension, gender and animacy and control of agreement in associative constructions. The third part of the article is concerned with the interpretations of complicated cases of role marking in constructions with the nominal predicate. These cases are treated as an interrelation of the role and com­municative dimensions. The authors suggest that the role marking in Latin and Greek can be better interpreted by taking into account the three language dimensions: role, deictic-denotative and communicative.