Features of using absolute participle constructions in the Italian language of the XVI century (by the example of F. Guicciardini’s treatise “The History of Italy”)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the structural and functional features of absolute participle constructions in the Old Italian language of the High Renaissance period using the text of the treatise “The History of Italy” by one of the leading figures in Italian historical science Francesco Guicciardini as an example. The paper is novel in that it is the first to analyse the specificity of using absolute participle constructions as one of non-finite verb forms on the basis of a work written in the Tuscan volgare during the Cinquecento period in the genre of a historical treatise. Such constructions could be used as an equivalent of a predicative construction in a complex sentence, were characterised by variability of forms when agreeing with the subject in gender and number, could be accompanied by correlates and were also used as an analogue of attributive clauses with a relative in preposition. As a result of the study, it has been found that the absolute participle constructions in Francesco Guicciardini’s work are characterised by variation at the syntactic level and have greater functionality compared to the modern literary language.

References

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About this article

Publication history

• Received: January 24, 2023.
• Published: September 7, 2023.

Keywords

• итальянский язык
• вольгаре
• абсолютный причастный оборот
• трактат
• Франческо Гвиччардини
• Italian language
• volgare
• absolute participle construction
• treatise
• Francesco Guicciardini

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