WACKERNAGEL'S LAW AND THE POSITION OF UNSTRESSED PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN CLASSICAL LATIN

Abstract

ABSTRACT Weak pronouns in Classical Latin are generally believed to have adopted the second position in their clause, in conformity with Wackernagel's law. In this paper it is shown that pronouns are not regularly placed second at all in Classical prose. They have a tendency, shared by other clitic elements such as the copula and auxiliary verb esse , to seek out the focus of an utterance as their host, even when that focus is not at the start of its clause. The relationship between this tendency, and placement of the type traditionally thought to manifest the working of Wackernagel's law, is considered. The principles of pronoun placement operating in Classical prose are discussed in relation to the emergence of verb‐based pronoun placement in the Romance languages (particularly Portuguese), through an examination of a transitional text (the letters of Claudius Terentianus).