Relative Pronouns in Light of Epigraphic Evidence:The Province of Lusitania*

Silvia Tantimonaco,Catarina Gaspar

doi:10.1556/068.2019.59.1-4.18

Abstract

Summary:This paper focuses on the uses and forms of the relative pronouns as evidenced from the Latin epigraphy in Lusitania. Inscriptions are considered from the 1st to the 8th century AD, with special attention being paid to the future developments in the Portuguese language. To this purpose, other in- scriptions or documents of a different nature dated to later chronologies are also considered as a point of comparison.

Highlights

Relative pronouns underwent complex changes during the shift from Latin into the Romance languages, which affected phonetics, morphology and syntax
In the first group we find que, whose origin is clearly Vulgar Latin qui – when the pronoun acts as subject – or Vulgar Latin que(m)/quid – when it stands for the direct object of a sentence.[3]
In the province of Lusitania, whose territory corresponded to a great extent with central and southern Portugal, the modern region of Extremadura and parts of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha, in Spain, deviant spellings of the relative pronouns tend to be more frequent in inscriptions produced in the Early Period (1st–3rd century AD), while they noticeably decrease in the Late Period (4th–8th century AD)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Relative pronouns underwent complex changes during the shift from Latin into the Romance languages, which affected phonetics, morphology and syntax. The principal tendencies of the romance system emerge in full force with the notarial deeds composed in Portugal during the same epoch In those examples which are dated to the 13th century, for instance, the form que appears in place of qui, anticipating the development into Portuguese que [ke].11. Genitive forms such as cuius, cuia and cuium are recorded within these documents, where they are used as both relative and possessive pronouns; and, besides these, we can find quanto and qual.[12]. This text contains several morphosyntactic variants, such as singular quale and plural quales or the merging of que ~ qui in the masculine nominative

INSCRIPTIONAL EVIDENCE FROM THE PROVINCE LUSITANIA

Findings

CONCLUSIONS