Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9820-0357
Date Available
8-20-2025
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Linguistic Theory and Typology (MALTT)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Linguistics
Faculty
Dr. Mark Lauersdorf
Faculty
Dr. Andrew Byrd
Abstract
Despite thousands of years of study, certain constructions in Latin remain insufficiently described in modern Latin linguistics. One such construction is the double perfectum, an analytic verbal construction comprising the perfect passive participle and a perfectum forms of the auxiliary esse. These forms are rare, largely absent from educational Latin materials, and receive limited attention in scientific descriptions of Latin, often focusing on their evolution into the modern Romance verbal systems. Pinkster (2015) identifies them within a broader class of resultative constructions, but acknowledges their inconsistent usage. Earlier scholars, such as Riemann (1927), interpreted them as stative, while others, like White (1852), treated them as synonymous with other, more regular verb paradigms, such as the more common analytic passive. However, none of these analyses benefits from modern corpus methodology or semantic frameworks. For this study, I construct a corpus of Latin literary prose spanning from Cato the Elder to Tertullian (mid 2nd century BCE to early 2nd century CE) to syntactically identify instances of the double perfecta. Using a rules-based algorithm, I extract and analyze these forms, examining their tense, aspect, and aktionsart features with diagnostic tests based on specific temporal adverbial phrases. The analysis draws on theoretical frameworks of Comrie (1976, 1985) and Klein (1994) concerning tense, aspect, and aktionsart. By offering a systematic account of the double perfecta, this study aims to refine our understanding of tense and aspect in the Latin verbal system and contribute to diachronic models of Latin's evolution into the Romance languages. Moreover, I hope to lay the groundwork for further innovative study of the Latin verbal system, especially concerning the analyses of these double perfecta.
Bibliography:
Comrie, Bernand. 1985. Tense. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Klein, Wolfgang. 1994. Time in Language. London: Routledge.
Pinkster Harm. 2015. The Oxford Latin Syntax: Volume 1: The Simple Clause. Vol. 1. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press.
Riemann, Othon. 1927. Syntaxe latine d’après les principes de la grammaire historique. Paris: C. Klincksieck.
White, John T. 1852. A Latin Grammar. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.415
Recommended Citation
Epperson, James F. II, "Paratum Fuit: Double Perfect Marking in Classical Latin Passives" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics. 71.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ltt_etds/71
This zip folder contains all of the tagged Latin text files queired in the corpus
corpus_files_raw.zip (37024 kB)
This zip folder contains all of the raw text and xml files used to construct the corpus
corpus_dat.csv (21 kB)
This csv file contains the metadata for the corpus files themselves
Included in
Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Comparative and Historical Linguistics Commons, Other Linguistics Commons, Semantics and Pragmatics Commons
