Chapter Eleven. From Demetrius To Dik. Ancient And Modern Views On Greek And Latin Word Order

Abstract

This article focuses on ancient rhetorical views on word order, a subject in which linguistics and literature are combined in an effective way. The author investigates whether ancient theory can contribute to our understanding of Greek and Latin word order. In grammatical theory, order plays an equally important role, not only on a practical level, but also on a theoretical one. The author discusses some similarities between ancient rhetorical views on word order on the one hand and modern pragmatic ideas on the other. Ancient rhetoric and Functional Grammar share two characteristics in particular: they pay due attention to the communicative role of language, and they deal with larger texts rather than with isolated sentences. The author argues that the rhetorical accounts of word order in Demetrius and Quintilian support the modern views that have been developed within the framework of Functional Grammar. Keywords: ancient rhetorical views; Demetrius; Functional Grammar; Greek; Latin; linguistics; literature; modern views; word order