obl:lmod: locative oblique argument
This semantical subrelation is used to single out those oblique arguments that express a spatial reference, often by means of nominal elements with meanings related to spatial concepts, or implying some point, extension or movement in space.
Latin locative oblique arguments make use of various strategies, mainly (but not always) involving the use of adpositions (overwhelmingly prepositions) together with the ablative or the accusative case, depending on direction, presence or absence of movement, and other factors. These strategies have in many cases been adopted to express temporal relations, too (a universally common phenomenon), and are based on a rough conceptual division between ablative-static/origin and accusative-continuous/movement. Latin maintains, though marginal in its system, a locative case, which appears synchronically confined to names of places (e.g. Roma ‘Rome’ gives Romae) or specific terms (e.g. domus ‘home’ gives domi, rus ‘countryside’ gives ruri)
The lmod subrelation is also used for adverbial modifiers: since, in Latin, this appears to be a purely formal distinction with regard to oblique locative (but also temporal) arguments, the use of lmod aims to capture the fundamental unitarity of such constructions.
NB: when a locative phrase appears as the non-verbal part of a copula, this will not be signalled by the lmod subrelation, because other clausal relations will be used instead of obl, since that phrase does not function as an argument of the predicate, but is the root of its own clause. Also, sometimes the subrelation lmod might come into conflict with that used for the complement (arg), relative to the (possible) secondary complement/adjunct distinction, e.g. for verbs of movement such as eo ‘I go’. If this occurs, a preference might be given to the arg subrelation, seeing lmod, i nthis context, as corresponding to a locative adjunct.
‘And then, every year we have to deliver thee and thy heirs a moiety of unadmixed wine and after-wine in that place on the part of your aforementioned bishopric, and we do have to welcome and take care of your legate at the cellar [?]; […]’ (LLCT)
- the ablative case expresses a stationary locative argument together with the adposition in ‘in’, which can also appear with accusative to express “movement into”;
- analogously, the use of accusative with super ‘over’ seems to tie in with the movement implied by the coming of the received legate.
‘And since the principal root from which the human race has grown was planted in the East, and from there our growth has spread, through many branches and in all directions, finally reaching the furthest limits of the West, perhaps it was then that the rivers of all Europe, or at least some of them, first refreshed the throats of rational beings.’ (De Vulgari Eloquentia, UDante)
- again, the ablative accompanied by the adposition in ‘in’ expresses a stationary location where the root lay after having been planted;
- the accusatives with ad ‘to’ express the described movement;
- notice the locative adverbial element inde ‘thence’ used in a nominal context, that is, accompanied by an (redundant) adposition as any other noun phrase.
obl:lmod in other languages: [apu] [koi] [kpv] [la] [qpm] [sms] [tn] [u]