This paper examines the morphosyntax of relative pronouns (RPs) functioning as Subjects and Objects in a corpus of notarial deeds and public documents written between the late 9th and early 11th centuries in two centers of the Lombard Principality of Benevento: the capital city, Benevento, and the town of Ariano. The data reveal evidence of a restructuring in the RPs paradigm, a phenomenon widely observed in late and medieval Latin, likely connected to broader, long-term linguistic trends, such as the decline of case inflection and shifts in exponence patterns. Within the corpus, this restructuring process typically manifests as a simplification, resulting in a partial breakdown of the alternations traditional system, with interesting areas of maintenance. At the same time, it gives rise to stable, innovative morphosyntactic configurations that redefine both the content of individual paradigm cells and the relationships between form and function across the paradigm. The data also indicate varying levels of linguistic competence among the notaries and scribes who produced these documents. Notably, scribes closer to the princely court demonstrate greater adherence to earlier Latin models, likely in connection to the cultural heritage of Benevento but in the same time a participation to ongoing dynamic processes. In contrast, private documents—particularly those authored by notaries working in Ariano—exhibit a wider range of partially idiosyncratic variants.

La morfosintassi dei pronomi relativi in funzione di Soggetto e Oggetto nella documentazione beneventana altomedievale: ristrutturazioni paradigmatiche e stratificazione stilistica

Valente Simona
2024

Abstract

This paper examines the morphosyntax of relative pronouns (RPs) functioning as Subjects and Objects in a corpus of notarial deeds and public documents written between the late 9th and early 11th centuries in two centers of the Lombard Principality of Benevento: the capital city, Benevento, and the town of Ariano. The data reveal evidence of a restructuring in the RPs paradigm, a phenomenon widely observed in late and medieval Latin, likely connected to broader, long-term linguistic trends, such as the decline of case inflection and shifts in exponence patterns. Within the corpus, this restructuring process typically manifests as a simplification, resulting in a partial breakdown of the alternations traditional system, with interesting areas of maintenance. At the same time, it gives rise to stable, innovative morphosyntactic configurations that redefine both the content of individual paradigm cells and the relationships between form and function across the paradigm. The data also indicate varying levels of linguistic competence among the notaries and scribes who produced these documents. Notably, scribes closer to the princely court demonstrate greater adherence to earlier Latin models, likely in connection to the cultural heritage of Benevento but in the same time a participation to ongoing dynamic processes. In contrast, private documents—particularly those authored by notaries working in Ariano—exhibit a wider range of partially idiosyncratic variants.
2024
Valente, Simona
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11591/543939
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