Latin Accusativus cum Participio: syntactic description, evidential values, and diachronic development

This paper aims to identify and describe the main functions of the Latin participial construction known as Accusativus cum Participio. In particular, it will be shown that most of the meanings carried by this structure can be related to evidentiality. The characteristics of the Accusativus cum Participio construction will be investigated in a corpus of Latin texts ranging from the age of Plautus (3rd–2nd century BC) to Gregory of Tours (late 6th century AD). Therefore, this study will also provide an account of the diachronic evolution of the different values and meanings carried by this participial construction.