La prolepse en grec ancien et la théorie des phases

Richard Faure (1)

1 BCL, équipe Dialectologie et Linguistique formelle

In this article, we come back to the Ancient Greek odd phenomenon of prolepsis. The subject of a complement clause is “anticipated” in the matrix clause and fully integrated (the term is in the case assigned by the matrix predicate to its object). Addressing this issue from a syntactic point of view, we pinpoint two neglected aspects. First, we show that the prolepsis is the product of a stepwise derivation: the noun phrase (NP) successively occupies the positions of subject of the complement clause, topic of this clause, and eventually topic of the matrix clause. Second, the question is addressed negatively: the verbs that do not assign a case to their object do not display the prolepsis either, e.g. erōtáō ‘ask’. Finally, we propose to tie the two aspects together by means of Phase Theory. According to Chomsky (2000), an utterance is built through highly constrained steps: the phases. A proleptic NP is taken out of the complement clause to the topic position in the matrix clause. This discourse position is only accessible by passing through two in-between phases, namely that headed by the topic position of the complement clause and that headed by the object agreement position in the matrix verbal phrase (VP). The latter position is crucial in the derivation and must be postulated for independent reasons. Verbs like erōtáō that do not assign case to their object lack it and therefore do not feature the prolepsis phenomenon.

Mots clés: classical greek; syntax; long-distance extraction; prolepsis; phase

Domaines: Linguistique; Etudes classiques; Linguistique

Richard Faure. La prolepse en grec ancien et la théorie des phases. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, A paraître. ⟨hal-01883853⟩