Abstract
In this paper, we present the diachronic maps of a selection of 75 Latin modal markers designed through the tool <em>Pygmalion</em>. Both the maps and <em>Pygmalion</em> were conceived in the framework of the <em>WoPoss</em> project, which aims at analysing the diachronic pathways of modality in Latin. While the description of the tool and its functionalities is beyond the scope of this paper, we focus here on the description of our diachronic modal maps. Using visualisations to represent semantic shifts is a well-known practice in some linguistic fields such as typology and lexicography, and they have already been applied to modality. Though the situation is rapidly evolving, typological semantic maps as well as lexicographic maps are still for the most part static and usually not-interactive visualisations. Our modal maps stand out not only for their interactivity, but also for the richness of the information conveyed: chronology, etymology, semantics, syntax, first attestation and diachronic relationships between the meanings. After presenting our conceptual framework for modality, we illustrate the process of conceptualisation and development of our diachronic maps of modality. More specifically, we explain how we gathered and organised the data in order to transpose it into a visual representation. We then showcase the map of <em>possum</em> as an example of our results. Subsequently, we discuss the results with respect to previous literature concerning both visualisation of modal evolution from a general point of view and the investigation of modality in Latin. Finally, we outline possible applications within and beyond the <em>WoPoss</em> project.
Highlights
After presenting our conceptual framework for modality, we illustrate the process of conceptualisation and development of our diachronic maps of modality
In this paper we show how modality and some related semantic, syntactic and textual aspects can be visualised along a diachronic axis by using digital, interactive maps
Dell’Oro, 2019 drawing on Nuyts, 2016) as well as in this paper we intend it as the association of the notional domains of necessity, possibility and volition to any state of affairs (SoA): an example is the sentence I must go in which must is the modal marker of necessity and I ... go now is the modalised SoA
Summary
After presenting our conceptual framework for modality, we illustrate the process of conceptualisation and development of our diachronic maps of modality. We decided to represent in the map three instances of this meaning, one for each modal reading.6 At times, in particular in the case of collocations, we needed to add one or more meanings to the ones already suggested by the ThLL.
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