Annachiara Clementelli

The aim of this project is the analysis of the transformations of the gerund in the Latin ablative. While the starting point – mainly nominal behavior in the archaic and classical periods – and the endpoint – mainly verbal behavior in the Romance languages that preserve it – are well known, the transition between these two forms remains unexplored. This transition must have already begun in Latin, as suggested by the semantic transformations (broadening of meaning) and syntactic changes (increase in internal syntactic complexity) to which the gerund in the Latin ablative is subject. This study aims to analyze these changes through a quantitative and qualitative investigation of a large corpus of texts (3rd century BC – 6th century AD), offering innovative contributions to Latin and Romance linguistics.