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Subject, topic, given and salient: sentence-beginnings in Latin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2013

F. Jones
F. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
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Extract

This paper summarises the results of an investigation into sentence-beginnings made as part of an attempt to find an approach to word order which would be effective in revealing linguistic continuity as well as coping with the complexity of facts. Its point of origin is the intuition that for a native speaker the process of understanding what is said or written ought to be, at least within reasonable limits, both continuous and in some way in keeping with the order in which the utterance or text is presented.

Utterances are linear and temporal, and the ear passes what it receives to the brain in a sequential order that matches the auditory stimulus itself, a fact reflected in the way we write and read; it would be anomalous (though by no means impossible within certian limitations) if the brain were to process the incoming material in some other order. It is therefore worth considering the order in which discourse elements are represented.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 37 , 1992 , pp. 81 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 1992

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