Relative pronouns and relative clauses in Latin grammatical thought: implications for syntactic analyses

This paper deals with relatives and relative clauses (RCs) in Latin. After an introduction devoted to relativization strategies in world languages (Comrie and Kuteva 2013), the analysis of Latin RCs is carried out according to models from contemporary linguistics (Pompei 2011a and 2011b, Lavency 1981). The second part of the article focuses on ancient metalinguistic contributions, first in the transition from the Greek to the Latin tradition, then in the Medieval tradition, when grammar and logic are again intertwined. Findings include the fact that the Latin qui does not constitute a separate word class, and that – although syntactic uses are described – recognition and isolation of dependent clauses is still lacking throughout the Middle Ages.