C.H.M. Kroon

A framework for the description of Latin discourse markers

Abstract The article sketches the outlines of a theoretical framework for the analysis and description of discourse markers, based on an evaluation of earlier attempts in this direction, and on the results of an empirical study of a number of Latin connective particles. Central to this framework is the recent insight that connective particles somehow play a role in signalling or maintaining the discourse coherence, and, even more important, that discourse coherence obtains on various ‘levels’. In the model proposed, three levels of discourse are distinguished, which are called the representational, the presentational and the interactional level of discourse. It is argued that the functions of discourse markers should be defined in terms of these levels of discourse, and that, in the analyses of individual markers, one should differentiate between discourse function, basic meaning, actual use and side-effects. Application of the framework to a number of so-called coordinating conjunctions in Latin enables us to give more adequate and unified accounts of these particles than those which are usually found in Latin grammars. It also helps to explain seemingly deviant uses and to draw clearer distinctions between near-synonyms.

Voce voco. Some text linguistic observations on Ovid Heroides 10

In his article ‘Voce voco. Ariadne in Ovids Heroides und die ‘weibliche Stimme’ ’ (Mnemosyne vol. LXV, 2012), Christoph Pieper proposes a metapoetic interpretation of Ovid Heroides 10 in terms of a gradual awakening (and subsequent faltering) of a female (Ariadne’s) literary voice. The present contribution serves as a supplement to this article, in that it provides some text linguistic support for this metapoetic reading. In a linguistically and narratologically oriented discussion of the structure of Heroides 10, it is shown how epic and elegy literally merge in this poem, for instance by means of an ingenious mixing of discourse modes and time frames, and a subtle play with the inherent ambiguity of the present tense. The analysis reveals by which formal means the poet manages to reconcile all of Ariadne’s different roles and perspectives in the poem (epistolary speaker, epic speaker, elegiac speaker, narrative character), and integrate them, by way of literary experiment, in one coherent text. Keywords Ovid, Heroides, text linguistics, narrative techniques, metapoetics