Word Order, Focus, and Clause Linking in Greek Tragic Poetry

The thesis comprises an investigation of three aspects of sentence structure in Classical Greek (henceforth CG) dramatic poetry: order of the main sentence elements (subject, verb, and object) within the clause, the emphatic position at the start of the clause, and the structure of inter-clausal linking. It is argued that these three features, usually considered separately, are interdependent, and that intra-clausal word order is directly related to the structure of compound and complex sentences. The discussion undertakes a systematic survey of subject, verb, and object order in a corpus of texts, proposes an explanation for the observed order, and develops a model which explains how prominence within the clause is exploited in clause linking to produce the complement structures observed in Homeric and tragic complementation.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Fraser, Bruce L.

• historical linguistics
• Ancient Greek literature
• word order
• syntax
• Greek tragedy
• complementation
• focalisation
• clausal subordination
• comparing poetry and prose
• enclitics
• topic and focus

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/67212550-2c33-45c0-95d8-7b0730b244e6/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.16536

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/219499