The acquisition and right interpretation of linguistic data of the past have been a crucial problem of scientific linguistics since its very rise. On the one side, written transmission, a necessary condition for the scientific observation of the languages of the past, often inevitably obscures the original functional context of the texts. Consequently, written texts do not properly become linguistic data (i.e. the Saussurean matière de la linguistique) until the analysis has reconstructed those contexts and functions. On the other side, our knowledge of the languages of the past lacks the other kind of linguistic evidence, the Chomskian judgments on the good formation of utterances, a dataset fully available only if native speakers are.

Given this framework, it becomes of particular interest to observe the specific documentary segment that we gather here under the general label of “metalinguistic texts” (henceforth MT). Two main kinds of texts represent it:
1) texts cited as exempla by grammarians and lexicographers;
2) technical terms of grammar that describe and explain linguistic forms or phenomena.

Our working hypothesis is that MT can provide a specific and in some ways privileged access to linguistic data of the past since they allow us to make hypotheses on the speakers' point of view about the language facts referred to in the texts.

Of course, the compilers of MT often cited forms taken from a very long tradition and possibly not correspondent with the contemporary language. Hence, the need to combine the linguist’s with the philologist’s perspective is mandatory. A single lemma of the Appendix Probi as oculus non oclus only displays the pre-romance syncope of /u/; the same lemma, framed inside its metalinguistic context with the previous draco non dracco and the following aqua non acqua, definitely certifies, through the censored adiectio of "C", the long realization of /k/ and therefore a form [okklus] (cf Mancini 2007).

MT can also replace to some extent the lack of judgments by native speakers: Apollonius Dyscolus’ Syntax gives examples of unacceptable constructions, as the occurrence of the refl. genitive emautoû when the genitive emoû/mou is instead required, in an argumentative modality that closely recalls today’s asterisks on ungrammaticality.

The project aims to analyse the different types of MT defined above, and others that may emerge as pertinent, to pursue a qualitative enrichment of the linguistic knowledge of the past. The Indo-European languages which display the most relevant ancient and medieval grammatical traditions will be dealt with first: Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and Armenian. A study on genealogically different languages will be carried on as well, which, such as Tamil or the languages of Indonesian area, have undergone standardization processes in relevant segments of their history, partially modelled on the schemes of European grammatical tradition, and could constitute a precious comparative benchmark.

➡︎ TEMI DELLA RICERCA

PRIN: 2020F37EXS
Coordinatore nazionale: Luca Lorenzetti (Università degli Studi della Tuscia)