Acta Structuralica

international journal for structuralist research

Journal | Volume | Article

172558

Préposition, cas et syntaxe latine dans l'Encyclopédie

Bernard Colombat

pp. 3-20

Abstract

Bernard COLOMBAT: Préposition, cas et syntaxe latine dans l' «Encyclopédie». This paper aims at studying how Du Marsais and Beauzée consider the system of Latin cases in the numerous grammatical articles dealing with this language in < d'Encyclopédie». For them case must be studied in conjunction with the preposition. A preliminary study of the connections established between case and preposition throughout the history of Latin grammar shows the emergence of this part of speech: having long been considered as a simple intermediate element, in Sanctius the preposition becomes an essential component. For Du Marsais, case is the sign of a relation between words, and so is the preposition. The difficulty springs from the co-occurrent use of the pr~ position and case which, according to Du Marsais, cannot be «governed» by the preposition. So, it must be admitted that any case, after a preposition, loses the value it has when used on its own. Beauzée bases his analysis on different grounds: it cannot be admitted that case could have a primitive purpose and at the same time could be arbitrarily related to such and such a preposition. The solution consists in distinguishing «adverbial» cases, equivalent to prepositional phrases, and «completive» cases which can only be connected to a preposition. In this way Beauzée relationalizes the description of the case system in Latin, which seemed partial1y inconsistent to his predecessor.

Publication details

Published in:

(1981) De la grammaire à la linguistique. Histoire Épistémologie Langage 3 (2).

Pages: 3-20

Full citation:

Colombat Bernard (1981) „Préposition, cas et syntaxe latine dans l'Encyclopédie“. Histoire Épistémologie Langage 3 (2), 3–20.