Una proposta di schema di annotazione degli eventi di moto applicato al latino e alle lingue romanze

After an initial phase of theoretical definition, studies on the linguistic encoding of motion events have lately been focusing on corpus-based research. However, the lack of a standard classification methodology and shared analysis parameters has made it difficult to obtain verifiable, comparable, and reusable results. The present study shows how the Modeg annotation scheme may offer a solution in this respect, since it allows to identify, annotate and compare the key linguistic features at the root of typological classification and intra- and cross-linguistic variation, in both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. In order to prove so, we propose a Modeg-based analysis of a parallel corpus consisting of a Latin text (Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita) and its translations into five Romance languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian) belonging to different time stages. The passages examined address three crucial aspects in motion events typology: (i) the expression of path in the presence of a manner verb; (ii) the expression of manner in an event involving boundary-crossing; (iii) the expression of multiple grounds in a single event. From the analysis conducted it was possible to identify different constructions expressing a one and the same event, but also to verify their semantic articulation and spread over time and space.