Project: A Synchronic and Diachronic Systemic Functional 'Three-Dimensional' Approach to Tense and Aspect in the Writings of Caesar and Gregory of Tours.

2017-01-01 – 2020-12-31

Abstract

This project investigates the nature of the Latin verb stems, based on the analysis of a corpus consisting of Classical and Late Latin historiographical texts. It examines their basic value: an aspectual opposition (perfectivity-imperfectivity) or a difference in relative tense (anteriority-simultaneity). The framework is a Systemic-Functional model with three semantic dimensions: ideational (propositional content), textual (foreground-background), and interpersonal (discourse mode).