Proleptic accusatives in Latin

Based on a corpus of 140 proleptic accusatives from early Latin, this article presents new information concerning both the syntax and the pragmatic context of this construction. An investigation into the predicate frames and complementation patterns of the governing verbs is used to illustrate internal syntactic variation of the construction (particularly concerning nosco). An analysis of the pragmatic function of the whole corpus confirms the earlier view that the proleptic constituents are predominantly topics in their discourse contexts. However, a function of contrast is established and shown to be relevant in the case of personal pronouns as proleptic accusatives. Furthermore, it is suggested that using proleptic accusatives may be a major strategy of overt subject expression in the complement clauses with certain governing verb forms.