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University of Bologna
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Suzanne ADEMA, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The tense of speech indications in Vergil's Aeneid
This paper reports on the results of part of a more encompassing study of the functions and use of narrative tenses in Vergil's Aeneid, based on the assumption that there is a complex, but systematic relation between a particular tense form and its discourse function(s).
It is generally acknowledged (e.g. Biber 1989) that in a (narrative) text various text types may be used. However, with respect to the analysis of the narrative tenses in the Aeneid, it appears to be useful also to make a distinction into four text functions: comment (an argumentative text type), background information (an informative text type), similes (usually a narrative text type) and the intrigue (a narrative text type). Since it is my conviction that a difference in text function has an influence on the interpretation of the tense of a specific state of affairs, for the research reported in this paper I have decided to reduce this influence to a minimum and to confine myself to a corpus of states of affairs which are maximally identical as to the factors text type and text function. This corpus consists of states of affairs that indicate speech endings and beginnings (attributive discourse, Prince: 1978). By comparing 'minimal pairs' of the type illustrated in (1) and (2) I try to establish the discourse motivations of the narrator for selecting a specific narrative tense:
(1) Book 2, 592 - 594
..., dextraque prehensum
continuit roseoque haec insuper addidit ore:
' nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras?
(2) Book 6, 854 - 856
Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit:
' aspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis
ingreditur uictorque uiros supereminet omnis
The outcomes of this preliminary investigation give an indication of the functions of narrative tenses on the level of the intrigue in the Aeneid more in general.
References
- BAKKER, E. 1997 Verbal aspect and mimetic description in Thucydides. In: E. Bakker (ed.) Grammar as Interpretation. Leiden: Brill
- BIBER, D. 1989 A typology of English texts In: Linguistics 27-1, 3-43
- CHAFE, W. 1994 Discourse, Consciousness and Time. The Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- DE JONG, I. 1987 Narrators and focalizers: the presentation of the story in the Iliad. Amsterdam: B.R. Grüner
- FLEISCHMANN, S 1990 Tense and Narrativity. London: Routledge
- KROON, C. 2000 Het ene verhaal is het andere niet. Een taalkundige kijk op teksttype in de Latijnse literatuur. In: Lampas 33, pp.211 -238
- KROON, C. 2002 How to write a ghost story? A linguistic view on narrative modes in Pliny EP. 7.27 In: L. Sawicki and D. Shalev (ed.) Donum Grammaticum. Studies in Latin and Celtic linguistics in honour of Hannah Rosén, Leuven: Peeters, pp. 189-200
- PINKSTER, H. 1990 Latin Syntax and Semantics. Londen Routledge (ch. 11)
- PINKSTER, H. 1999 The present tense in Virgil's Aeneid. In: Mnemosyne 52, 705-717
- PRINCE, G. 1978 Le discours attributif et le récit Poétique35, 305-313
Most recent modifications: February 18, 2003 – latling@classics.unibo.it
Source: Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Medioevale
No rights can be derived from the information on this Internet-page.
It is generally acknowledged (e.g. Biber 1989) that in a (narrative) text various text types may be used. However, with respect to the analysis of the narrative tenses in the Aeneid, it appears to be useful also to make a distinction into four text functions: comment (an argumentative text type), background information (an informative text type), similes (usually a narrative text type) and the intrigue (a narrative text type). Since it is my conviction that a difference in text function has an influence on the interpretation of the tense of a specific state of affairs, for the research reported in this paper I have decided to reduce this influence to a minimum and to confine myself to a corpus of states of affairs which are maximally identical as to the factors text type and text function. This corpus consists of states of affairs that indicate speech endings and beginnings (attributive discourse, Prince: 1978). By comparing 'minimal pairs' of the type illustrated in (1) and (2) I try to establish the discourse motivations of the narrator for selecting a specific narrative tense:
- (1) Book 2, 592 - 594
..., dextraque prehensum
continuit roseoque haec insuper addidit ore:
' nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras?
- (2) Book 6, 854 - 856
Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit:
' aspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis
ingreditur uictorque uiros supereminet omnis
- References
- BAKKER, E. 1997 Verbal aspect and mimetic description in Thucydides. In: E. Bakker (ed.) Grammar as Interpretation. Leiden: Brill
- BIBER, D. 1989 A typology of English texts In: Linguistics 27-1, 3-43
- CHAFE, W. 1994 Discourse, Consciousness and Time. The Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- DE JONG, I. 1987 Narrators and focalizers: the presentation of the story in the Iliad. Amsterdam: B.R. Grüner
- FLEISCHMANN, S 1990 Tense and Narrativity. London: Routledge
- KROON, C. 2000 Het ene verhaal is het andere niet. Een taalkundige kijk op teksttype in de Latijnse literatuur. In: Lampas 33, pp.211 -238
- KROON, C. 2002 How to write a ghost story? A linguistic view on narrative modes in Pliny EP. 7.27 In: L. Sawicki and D. Shalev (ed.) Donum Grammaticum. Studies in Latin and Celtic linguistics in honour of Hannah Rosén, Leuven: Peeters, pp. 189-200
- PINKSTER, H. 1990 Latin Syntax and Semantics. Londen Routledge (ch. 11)
- PINKSTER, H. 1999 The present tense in Virgil's Aeneid. In: Mnemosyne 52, 705-717
- PRINCE, G. 1978 Le discours attributif et le récit Poétique35, 305-313
Most recent modifications: February 18, 2003 – latling@classics.unibo.it
Source: Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Medioevale
No rights can be derived from the information on this Internet-page.