I work on hyperbaton – the separation of noun phrases – in Cicero’s oratory. Examples of this linguistic phenomenon include iconic phrases such as summa cum laude, as well as much more complex expressions.

My research aims to further our understanding of how hyperbaton is used by one of the central authors of Roman Antiquity, as well as its relationship with Latin word order at large. In order to investigate this, I created a database of all the noun phrases in 21 speeches by Cicero and tagged them for a number of linguistic features. This allows me to anchor my analysis firmly in the data, and to confront different factors at play. So far, my research has shown that it is possible to distinguish parameters that regularly lead to hyperbaton and my doctoral thesis will result in a typology of hyperbata in the studied texts.

During my stay at the Swedish Institute in Rome, I am particularly interested in exploring the relationship between the language of the speeches and their non-linguistic context – their physical setting, audience, and political backdrop.