The locative alternation with intransitive verbs in Latin

Abstract

The locative alternation with intransitive verbs, which is quite productive in English, is also shown to be attested in Latin. In the theme/figure subject variant, the location surfaces as an oblique complement: e.g. oculis micat acribus ignis (Verg. Aen . 12.102) and Et resonet tota planctus in Aemilia (Mart. 6.85.6). In contrast, in the location/ground subject variant, the theme is typically expresssed via a nominal phrase in the ablative case (and less frequently in the genitive case): e.g. et crebris micat ignibus aether (Verg. Aen . 1.90) and resonat magnis plangoribus aether (Verg. Aen . 4.668). The two variants are shown to involve a different syntactico-semantic construal, with a different pragmatics as well. The meaning of the location subject variant is shown to go beyond the well-known “holistic effect” (i.e. its subject is “fully affected”): this variant entails theme and event abundance and so-called “dynamic texture”, whereby the events described by the verb happen simultaneously and repetitively throughout all parts of a space. Finally, we also provide a sketch of our syntactic approach to the event structure of some relevant verbs that enter into the intransitive locative alternation in Latin.