Apollonius Dyscole et l’adverbe

Résumé En Fr

: The treatise On Adverbs features as one of the Scripta Minora which Apollonius Dyscolus devotes to various parts of speech (mérē toû lógou), and is organically related to his Syntax. The Alexandrine grammarian strives to define the adverb as an independent part of speech, not only because of its morphology (not being subject to inflexion), but also because of a set of semanto-syntactical features on which its relationship with the other parts of speech is based. The definition of the adverb, given at the very beginning of the treatise, and minutely discussed in what follows, seems to be the result of his study rather than his starting point. This definition is used as the very criterion for the caseanalyses following in the remainder of the treatise, most particularly the long section devoted to the problems of merism. To Apollonius, invariability is not sufficient to consider a word as an adverb; its syntactic behaviour must conform to the initial definition too: •the adverb is a non-inflected word which restrictively or non-restrictively predicates the inflexions in the verbs, without which it cannot make a meaning complete”. This paper aims to throw some light on the main aspects of this definition: the status of the adverb as a non-essential part of speech; its non-inflected form; its predicative function, and the object of this predication, namely the inflexions of the verb; the combinatory restrictions which limit its use; and finally its appropriate position, which should be before the verb. Apollonius’ view is related to a tradition according to which the adverb is as closely connected with the verb as the adjective is with the noun: only its being employed with a verb is taken into account, and not, for instance, with an adjective. However, the grammarian’s originality lies in his rational approach: he always tries to describe linguistic data in accordance with a lógos, rather than with the appearances of common usage, and to define categories in a comprehensive rather than an extensive manner. This reflects his conception of language as something structured and therefore intelligible.

plutôt qu’extensive. Cette attitude reflète sa conception de la langue comme un ensemble structuré, donc intelligible.