Locatives derived from Latin UBI and UNDE in the Spanish chronicles Atalaya de las crónicas

Abstract

This is a study of locatives derived from Latin UBI and UNDE in theSpanish chronicles Atalaya de las crónicas, by Alfonso Martínez de Toledo,dating from the fi fteenth century. The system derived from UBI and UNDEis composed of adverbs, relative pronouns and conjunctions and DONDEand DO are their most frequent forms. Besides the description of locatives,we analyse the grammaticalization and the emergence of the conjunctionDONDE. These items are basically concrete locatives and tend to becomemore abstract and expand their meanings. They can even change theirgrammatical function, acquiring more grammaticality. This process ofabstratization favoured a reanalysis of the relative pronoun in conjunction,which could be understood from the observation of what we call ambiguousitems, set in contexts that allows a double interpretation.