Gender from Latin to Romance: History, Geography, Typology: 27 (Oxford Studies in Diachronic and Historical Linguistics)

The book addresses grammatical gender in Romance, and its development from Latin. It works with the toolbox of current linguistic typology, and asks the fundamental question of how the Latin grammatical gender system gradually changed into those of the Romance languages. To answer this question, the book capitalizes on the pervasive dialect variation of which the better-known standard Romance languages only represent a fragment. Indeed, inspection of dialect variation across time and space forces one to dismiss the handbook account proclaiming that the neuter gender, contrasting with masculine and feminine in Latin, was eradicated from spoken Latin by late Empire times. Both Late Latin evidence and data from several modern dialects show that this never happened, and that the vulgate account proceeds from unwarranted back-projection of the data from modern languages like French and Italian. Rather, the neuter underwent transformations which are the main culprit for the differences in the gender system observed today between, say, Romanian, Sursilvan, Neapolitan, and Asturian, to cite just a few types of system which turn out to differ significantly. A precondition for establishing the database for diachronic investigation is a detailed description of many such systems, which reveals data whose interest transcends the diachronic issue under consideration: the book thus addresses systems where ‘husbands’ are feminine and others where ‘wives’ are masculine; discusses dialects where nouns overtly mark gender, but only in certain syntactic contexts; and proposes an analysis according to which one Romance language (Asturian) has split inherited grammatical gender into two concurrent systems. This Book Explores Grammatical Gender In The Romance Languages And Dialects And Its Evolution From Latin. Michele Loporcaro Investigates The Significant Diversity Found In The Romance Varieties In This Regard; He Draws On Data From The Middle Ages To The Present From All The Romance Languages And Dialects, Discussing Examples From Romanian To Portuguese And Crucially Also Focusing On Less Widely-studied Varieties Such As Sursilvan, Neapolitan, And Asturian. The Investigation First Reveals That Several Varieties Display More Complex Systems Than The Binary Masculine/feminine Contrast Familiar From Modern French Or Italian. Moreover, It Emerges That Traditional Accounts, Whereby Neuter Gender Was Lost In The Spoken Latin Of The Late Empire, Cannot Be Correct: Instead, The Neuter Gender Underwent A Range Of Different Transformations From Late Latin Onwards, Which Are Responsible For The Different Systems That Can Be Observed Today Across The Romance Languages. The Volume Provides A Detailed Description Of Many Of These Systems, Which In Turns Reveals A Wealth Of Fascinating Data, Such As Varieties Where 'husbands' Are Feminine And Others Where 'wives' Are Masculine; Dialects In Which Nouns Overtly Mark Gender, But Only In Certain Syntactic Contexts; And One Romance Variety (asturian) In Which It Appears That Grammatical Gender Has Split Into Two Concurrent Systems. Introduction -- The Starting Point: Gender In Latin -- Grammatical Gender In Romance: The Mainstream -- Romance Gender Systems: The Fuller Picture -- Mass/countness And Gender In Asturian -- The Older Stages Of The Romance Languages - Gender From Latin To Romance: A Reconstruction -- The Typological Interest Of Lesser-known Romance Gender Systems. Michele Loporcaro. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. This book explores grammatical gender in the Romance languages and dialects and its evolution from Latin. Michele Loporcaro investigates the significant diversity found in the Romance varieties in this regard; he draws on data from the Middle Ages to the present from all the Romance languages and dialects, discussing examples from Romanian to Portuguese and crucially also focusing on less widely-studied varieties such as Sursilvan, Neapolitan, and Asturian. The investigation first reveals that several varieties display more complex systems than the binary masculine/feminine contrast familiar from modern French or Italian. Moreover, it emerges that traditional accounts, whereby neuter gender was lost in the spoken Latin of the late Empire, cannot be correct: instead, the neuter gender underwent a range of different transformations from Late Latin onwards, which are responsible for the different systems that can be observed today across the Romance languages. The volume provides a detailed description of many of these systems, which in turns reveals a wealth of fascinating data, such as varieties where 'husbands' are feminine and others where 'wives' are masculine; dialects in which nouns overtly mark gender, but only in certain syntactic contexts; and one Romance variety (Asturian) in which it appears that grammatical gender has split into two concurrent systems. The volume will appeal to linguists from a range of backgrounds, including Romance linguistics, historical linguistics, typology, and morphosyntax, and is also of relevance to those working in sociology, gender studies, and psychology. Este libro explora el género gramatical en las lenguas y dialectos romances y su evolución a partir del latín. Michele Loporcaro investiga la significativa diversidad de las variedades románicas en este sentido; se basa en datos desde la Edad Media hasta el presente de todas las lenguas y dialectos románicos, discutiendo ejemplos desde el rumano hasta el portugués y centrándose fundamentalmente también en variedades menos estudiadas como el sursilvano, el napolitano y el asturiano. La investigación revela en primer lugar que varias variedades presentan sistemas más complejos que el contraste binario masculino/femenino que se conoce del francés o el italiano moderno. Además, emerge que los relatos tradicionales, según los cuales el género neutro se perdió en el latín hablado del último Imperio, no pueden ser correctos: en cambio, el género neutro sufrió una serie de transformaciones diferentes desde el latín tardío en adelante, que son responsables de los diferentes sistemas que se pueden observar hoy en día en las lenguas románicas. El volumen ofrece una descripción detallada de muchos de estos sistemas, que a su vez revela una gran cantidad de datos fascinantes, tales como variedades en las que "maridos" son femeninos y otras en las que "esposas" son masculinos; dialectos en los que los sustantivos marcan abiertamente el género, pero sólo en ciertos contextos sintácticos; y una variedad románica (asturiana) en la que parece que el género gramatical se ha dividido en dos sistemas concurrentes oso-9780199656547-miscMatter-1.pdf 2 oso-9780199656547-miscMatter-2 3 oso-9780199656547-miscMatter-3 4 oso-9780199656547-miscMatter-4 5 Пустая страница 1