Semantic, syntactic and pragmatic patterns of choice between alternative verbal constructions. The case of circumdo and spargo

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an exhaustive analysis of the alternating constructions associated with the verbs circumdo and spargo in a corpus comprising several classical and post-classical Latin prose writers. The aim is to identify the semantic, syntactic and pragmatic conditions at play in the choice of one alternating construction over another. It is found that, although there is not an absolute distribution, some of the constructions do seem to be associated with a certain type of semantic interpretation and a typical pragmatic distribution. In addition, some examples suggest that there are certain syntactic conditions that favor one construction over another.