La corrélation chez les grammairiens grecs : problèmes de métalangage

Abstract

Though Greek language offers a rich system of correlative terms, Greek grammarians did not pay much importance to the facts of correlation in their treatises. Nevertheless, ancient Greek had a lexical family to designate the notion with the verb antapodidonai. This paper has three purposes. Firstly, it explores philosophical and rhetorical sources and shows that Greek philosophers and rhetoricians had foreshadowed the concept of correlation. Secondly, exploring grammatical tradition, we can see that Greek grammarians did not ignore correlative terms and correlation facts, but they did not take into account the level of correlative system, except Apollonios Dyscolos (but the notion of correlation is first clarified by Michael Syncellus). Finally, to explain this, we suggest three reasons : the interaction between rhetoric and grammar, the role of comparisons and a conception of syntax mainly restricted to words.