jerneja Kavčič - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by jerneja Kavčič

Research paper thumbnail of Bilingualism and the spread of an infinitive construction

In post-Classical Greek, declarative infinitive clauses (DInf) frequently contain a Perfect Infin... more In post-Classical Greek, declarative infinitive clauses (DInf) frequently contain a Perfect Infinitive (Pf. Inf.). According to Mandilaras (1973: p. 329), this is the most common form of DInf in Greek non-literary papyri. On the other hand, Rijksbaron (2006: p. 98) claims that such clauses were uncommon in earlier periods. It has been suggested that the spread of this construction is a result of intensified contacts between speakers of Latin and Greek, which is a hypothesis going back to Harry (1906: p. 69). Focusing on DInf containing the Pf. Inf. ἐσχηκέναι, this paper examines the Latin-contact hypothesis, as well as the hypothesis that the spread of this construction is an independent development of Ancient Greek (AG). It is claimed that the phenomenon can be accounted for in terms of independent development of AG. However, there is also evidence suggesting that some uses of the construction investigated were more acceptable for bilingual authors such as Polybius than for authors...

Research paper thumbnail of A corpus-based approach to the emergence of the verb ἐποῖκα in post-Classical epigraphic sources

Research paper thumbnail of On the use of the participle functioning as a finite verbal form in the Chronicle of John Malalas

Linguistica, 2001

Moreover, there are structural similarities to be noted between different sources of the particip... more Moreover, there are structural similarities to be noted between different sources of the participle in the function of a finite verbal form. No detailed research on the structure of the clauses with a participle functioning as a finite verbal form has been done, at least as far as Hellenistic Greek is concemed 14. Nevertheless, the rather sporadic references in various sources suggest that at least one clause structure was quite frequent in Hellenistic and Byzantine Greek, i.e. the structure with the conjunction Kai connecting a participle and a finite verbal form.

Research paper thumbnail of The greek infinitive in variable deliberative, principally dependent questions: an interpretation in terms of naturalness theory

Linguistica, 2004

In the present paper I investigate the use of the infinitive in dependent delibera­ tive clauses ... more In the present paper I investigate the use of the infinitive in dependent delibera­ tive clauses in Greek, a phenomenon occurring in several (modern) languages, cf. Slovene Nisem vedel, kaj storiti. 'I didn't know what to do?', English I didn't know what to do., German Was tun? 'What to do?'l. In the first part I present the development of deliberative infinitive clauses in Post-Classical Greek with a special emphasis on the use of this form in two Early Byzantine prose writings (in Pratum Spirituale and in Vita Theodori Syceotae, both belonging to the 6th;7th century AD), where some peculiarities are observed. In the second part an attempt is made to interpret the basic characteristics of the Greek infinitive in dependent deliberative clauses from the perspective of Naturalness Theory.

Research paper thumbnail of The Decline of the Aorist Infinitive in Ancient Greek Declarative Infinitive Clauses

Journal of Greek Linguistics, 2016

It seems established that infinitives used in declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl) convey... more It seems established that infinitives used in declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl) convey relative temporality in Classical Greek, with the aorist infinitive referring to anteriority, the present infinitive to simultaneity, and the future infinitive to posteriority. In Hellenistic/Roman Greek and in Early Byzantine Greek, by comparison, DeclarInfCl do not display the same variety of infinitive forms. These periods appear to avoid the aorist infinitive while manifesting a very common use of perfect infinitives and stative present infinitives in DeclarInfCl. These tendencies stand in a complex relation to other developments in the post-Classical period. This paper accounts for what appears to be the decline of the aorist infinitive in DeclarInfCl, claiming that this phenomenon is most likely related to the perfect infinitive adopting the function of conveying anteriority in DeclarInfCl.

Research paper thumbnail of Variation in Expressing Temporal and Aspectual Distinctions in Complement Clauses: A Study of the Greek Non-Literary Papyri of the Roman Period

Variation and Change in Ancient Greek Tense, Aspect and Modality, 2017

It has been claimed that in New Testament (NT) Greek the aorist infinitive is not used in declara... more It has been claimed that in New Testament (NT) Greek the aorist infinitive is not used in declarative infinitive clauses (DInf). This observation goes back to Burton (1898:53) and is repeated in several modern studies (Fanning 1990:401; Thorley 1989:295–296). In addition, DInf are characterized in NT Greek by 1) significantly frequent use of the perfect infinitive as well as of the present infinitives of stative verbs, and 2) avoidance of non-stative present infinitives in DInf (Fanning 1990:401; Kavcic 2009).This article investigates whether any such tendencies appear in the language of the contemporary non-literary papyri. The corpus analyzed consists of non-literary papyri dating to the first and early second centuries AD (around 30,000 words). If the aorist was avoided in DInf, it seems reasonable to assume that it was used in their syntactic variants; namely, in finite complement clauses. It is argued that the aorist is significantly more common in finite complement clauses than in DInf. In interpreting these data, the paper points out the complexity of their relation to other developments in Hellenistic and Roman Greek, especially highlighting the development of the Ancient Greek synthetic perfect and its relation to the aorist.

Research paper thumbnail of 11 The Classical norm and varieties of Post-classical Greek: Expressions of anteriority and posteriority in a corpus of official documents (I–II CE)

Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Teaching Modern Greek to Classicists

Keria: Studia Latina et Graeca, 2020

The ideology of decline is a part of the history of the study and characterization of the Greek l... more The ideology of decline is a part of the history of the study and characterization of the Greek language from the Hellenistic period and the Roman Atticist movement right up to the emergence of katharevousa in the 19th century and the resulting modern diglossia. It is also clear, however, that there is an overwhelming presence of Ancient Greek vocabulary and forms in the modern language. Our position is that the recognition of such phenomena can provide a tool for introducing classicists to the modern language, a view that has various intellectual predecessors (e.g., Albert Thumb, Nicholas Bachtin, George Thomson, and Robert Browning). We thus propose a model for the teaching of Modern Greek to classicists that starts with words that we refer to as carry-overs. These are words that can be used in the modern language without requiring any explanation of pronunciation rules concerning Modern Greek spelling or of differences in meaning in comparison to their ancient predecessors (e.g.,...

Research paper thumbnail of The Representation of Modern Greek in Ancient Greek Textbooks

Journal for Foreign Languages, 2020

Focusing on Agnello and Orlando (1998), Elliger and Fink (1986), Weileder and Mayerhöfer (2013), ... more Focusing on Agnello and Orlando (1998), Elliger and Fink (1986), Weileder and Mayerhöfer (2013), Mihevc-Gabrovec (1978) and Keller and Russell (2012), I discuss attempts at introducing elements of Modern Greek into teaching its ancient predecessor. My analysis, which is based on the etymologies of LKN (Λεξικό της Κοινής Νεοελληνικής), shows that approximately half of the words in the textbooks investigated in this study retain the same written forms and meanings in Modern Greek as in Ancient Greek; the term word in this analysis subsumes headwords introducing lexical entries. On the other hand, words with the same written forms and different meanings in Ancient and Modern Greek are significantly less frequent, accounting for 5 to 11% of all words in the textbooks. Furthermore, these textbooks contain between 12 and 16% of words that retain the same meaning in Ancient and Modern Greek, and also show significant formal change. As a result, their written forms are different in Ancient ...

Research paper thumbnail of 4. A diachronic perspective on the semantics of AcI clauses in Greek

Research paper thumbnail of Latinščina in grščina: včeraj, danes, jutri

Klasična jezika se poučujeta na Univerzi v Ljubljani vse od njene ustanovitve. Še posebej po 2. s... more Klasična jezika se poučujeta na Univerzi v Ljubljani vse od njene ustanovitve. Še posebej po 2. svetovni vojni je njun pouk ‒ na univerzitetni in drugih stopnjah ‒ doživel korenite sistemske spremembe, vzporedno z njimi pa je nenehno potekal tudi vsebinski razmislek o ciljih in metodiki poučevanja. V kontekstu sodobnega izobraževanja gre poudariti, da je pouk stare grščine in latinščine zaradi kulturno-civilizacijske vloge klasičnih jezikov kot medijev antične kulture v temelju interdisciplinaren in kot tak ohranja velik potencial z vidika sodobnih didaktičnih smernic. To velja tudi za obravnavo odnosa med staro in novo grščino. Možnosti vključevanja novogrških elementov v pouk starogrškega jezika obravnava projekt Greek Ancient and Modern, ki skuša spoznanja zgodovinskega jezikoslovja združiti z jezikovno didaktiko.

Research paper thumbnail of Greek: Ancient and Modern (Ελληνικά: Αρχαία και Νέα) : Ιστοσελίδα για την Εκμάθηση και Διδασκαλία της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας σε Όλη την Ιστορία της, https://u.osu.edu/greek/

Research paper thumbnail of Pleonastic use of verbs of speaking in Greek: an interpretation in terms of naturalness theory

Linguistica, 2005

This paper investigates a special use of the verbs of speaking in Greek, in which a personal verb... more This paper investigates a special use of the verbs of speaking in Greek, in which a personal verbal form of a verb of speaking is accompanied by a participle of ano­ ther verb of speaking. The latter is used pleonastically because the clause would be grammatical if the participle were omitted; cf. Chr. J. Mal. 15, 13, 31:'0 8s: Zvwv&.xoucrcx.c; btwµ6crcx.'t'o "Ai::ywv &.yvoc.1v 't'v xcx.'t'a: 'l"A"Aou xcx.ccx.crxw v. 'But when Zeno heard, he swore, saying that he knew nothing about the conspiracy against Illus.' In the first part I present the use of such pleonastic phrases in Greek with a special emphasis on their use in three Early Byzantine prose writings (in the Chronicle of John Mala/as (Chr. J. Mal.), in Pratum Spirituale (Prat. Spir.), and in Vita Theodori Syceotae ( Vita Th. Syc.), all belonging to the 6th/7th century AD). The pleonastic phrases are studied in terms of their inner structure and in terms of their syntacti...

Research paper thumbnail of Examining a Hypothesis about the Past-Oriented Aorist Infinitive in Post-Classical Greek

Transactions of the Philological Society, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Bilingualism and the spread of an infinitive construction

In post-Classical Greek, declarative infinitive clauses (DInf) frequently contain a Perfect Infin... more In post-Classical Greek, declarative infinitive clauses (DInf) frequently contain a Perfect Infinitive (Pf. Inf.). According to Mandilaras (1973: p. 329), this is the most common form of DInf in Greek non-literary papyri. On the other hand, Rijksbaron (2006: p. 98) claims that such clauses were uncommon in earlier periods. It has been suggested that the spread of this construction is a result of intensified contacts between speakers of Latin and Greek, which is a hypothesis going back to Harry (1906: p. 69). Focusing on DInf containing the Pf. Inf. ἐσχηκέναι, this paper examines the Latin-contact hypothesis, as well as the hypothesis that the spread of this construction is an independent development of Ancient Greek (AG). It is claimed that the phenomenon can be accounted for in terms of independent development of AG. However, there is also evidence suggesting that some uses of the construction investigated were more acceptable for bilingual authors such as Polybius than for authors...

Research paper thumbnail of A corpus-based approach to the emergence of the verb ἐποῖκα in post-Classical epigraphic sources

Research paper thumbnail of On the use of the participle functioning as a finite verbal form in the Chronicle of John Malalas

Linguistica, 2001

Moreover, there are structural similarities to be noted between different sources of the particip... more Moreover, there are structural similarities to be noted between different sources of the participle in the function of a finite verbal form. No detailed research on the structure of the clauses with a participle functioning as a finite verbal form has been done, at least as far as Hellenistic Greek is concemed 14. Nevertheless, the rather sporadic references in various sources suggest that at least one clause structure was quite frequent in Hellenistic and Byzantine Greek, i.e. the structure with the conjunction Kai connecting a participle and a finite verbal form.

Research paper thumbnail of The greek infinitive in variable deliberative, principally dependent questions: an interpretation in terms of naturalness theory

Linguistica, 2004

In the present paper I investigate the use of the infinitive in dependent delibera­ tive clauses ... more In the present paper I investigate the use of the infinitive in dependent delibera­ tive clauses in Greek, a phenomenon occurring in several (modern) languages, cf. Slovene Nisem vedel, kaj storiti. 'I didn't know what to do?', English I didn't know what to do., German Was tun? 'What to do?'l. In the first part I present the development of deliberative infinitive clauses in Post-Classical Greek with a special emphasis on the use of this form in two Early Byzantine prose writings (in Pratum Spirituale and in Vita Theodori Syceotae, both belonging to the 6th;7th century AD), where some peculiarities are observed. In the second part an attempt is made to interpret the basic characteristics of the Greek infinitive in dependent deliberative clauses from the perspective of Naturalness Theory.

Research paper thumbnail of The Decline of the Aorist Infinitive in Ancient Greek Declarative Infinitive Clauses

Journal of Greek Linguistics, 2016

It seems established that infinitives used in declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl) convey... more It seems established that infinitives used in declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl) convey relative temporality in Classical Greek, with the aorist infinitive referring to anteriority, the present infinitive to simultaneity, and the future infinitive to posteriority. In Hellenistic/Roman Greek and in Early Byzantine Greek, by comparison, DeclarInfCl do not display the same variety of infinitive forms. These periods appear to avoid the aorist infinitive while manifesting a very common use of perfect infinitives and stative present infinitives in DeclarInfCl. These tendencies stand in a complex relation to other developments in the post-Classical period. This paper accounts for what appears to be the decline of the aorist infinitive in DeclarInfCl, claiming that this phenomenon is most likely related to the perfect infinitive adopting the function of conveying anteriority in DeclarInfCl.

Research paper thumbnail of Variation in Expressing Temporal and Aspectual Distinctions in Complement Clauses: A Study of the Greek Non-Literary Papyri of the Roman Period

Variation and Change in Ancient Greek Tense, Aspect and Modality, 2017

It has been claimed that in New Testament (NT) Greek the aorist infinitive is not used in declara... more It has been claimed that in New Testament (NT) Greek the aorist infinitive is not used in declarative infinitive clauses (DInf). This observation goes back to Burton (1898:53) and is repeated in several modern studies (Fanning 1990:401; Thorley 1989:295–296). In addition, DInf are characterized in NT Greek by 1) significantly frequent use of the perfect infinitive as well as of the present infinitives of stative verbs, and 2) avoidance of non-stative present infinitives in DInf (Fanning 1990:401; Kavcic 2009).This article investigates whether any such tendencies appear in the language of the contemporary non-literary papyri. The corpus analyzed consists of non-literary papyri dating to the first and early second centuries AD (around 30,000 words). If the aorist was avoided in DInf, it seems reasonable to assume that it was used in their syntactic variants; namely, in finite complement clauses. It is argued that the aorist is significantly more common in finite complement clauses than in DInf. In interpreting these data, the paper points out the complexity of their relation to other developments in Hellenistic and Roman Greek, especially highlighting the development of the Ancient Greek synthetic perfect and its relation to the aorist.

Research paper thumbnail of 11 The Classical norm and varieties of Post-classical Greek: Expressions of anteriority and posteriority in a corpus of official documents (I–II CE)

Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Teaching Modern Greek to Classicists

Keria: Studia Latina et Graeca, 2020

The ideology of decline is a part of the history of the study and characterization of the Greek l... more The ideology of decline is a part of the history of the study and characterization of the Greek language from the Hellenistic period and the Roman Atticist movement right up to the emergence of katharevousa in the 19th century and the resulting modern diglossia. It is also clear, however, that there is an overwhelming presence of Ancient Greek vocabulary and forms in the modern language. Our position is that the recognition of such phenomena can provide a tool for introducing classicists to the modern language, a view that has various intellectual predecessors (e.g., Albert Thumb, Nicholas Bachtin, George Thomson, and Robert Browning). We thus propose a model for the teaching of Modern Greek to classicists that starts with words that we refer to as carry-overs. These are words that can be used in the modern language without requiring any explanation of pronunciation rules concerning Modern Greek spelling or of differences in meaning in comparison to their ancient predecessors (e.g.,...

Research paper thumbnail of The Representation of Modern Greek in Ancient Greek Textbooks

Journal for Foreign Languages, 2020

Focusing on Agnello and Orlando (1998), Elliger and Fink (1986), Weileder and Mayerhöfer (2013), ... more Focusing on Agnello and Orlando (1998), Elliger and Fink (1986), Weileder and Mayerhöfer (2013), Mihevc-Gabrovec (1978) and Keller and Russell (2012), I discuss attempts at introducing elements of Modern Greek into teaching its ancient predecessor. My analysis, which is based on the etymologies of LKN (Λεξικό της Κοινής Νεοελληνικής), shows that approximately half of the words in the textbooks investigated in this study retain the same written forms and meanings in Modern Greek as in Ancient Greek; the term word in this analysis subsumes headwords introducing lexical entries. On the other hand, words with the same written forms and different meanings in Ancient and Modern Greek are significantly less frequent, accounting for 5 to 11% of all words in the textbooks. Furthermore, these textbooks contain between 12 and 16% of words that retain the same meaning in Ancient and Modern Greek, and also show significant formal change. As a result, their written forms are different in Ancient ...

Research paper thumbnail of 4. A diachronic perspective on the semantics of AcI clauses in Greek

Research paper thumbnail of Latinščina in grščina: včeraj, danes, jutri

Klasična jezika se poučujeta na Univerzi v Ljubljani vse od njene ustanovitve. Še posebej po 2. s... more Klasična jezika se poučujeta na Univerzi v Ljubljani vse od njene ustanovitve. Še posebej po 2. svetovni vojni je njun pouk ‒ na univerzitetni in drugih stopnjah ‒ doživel korenite sistemske spremembe, vzporedno z njimi pa je nenehno potekal tudi vsebinski razmislek o ciljih in metodiki poučevanja. V kontekstu sodobnega izobraževanja gre poudariti, da je pouk stare grščine in latinščine zaradi kulturno-civilizacijske vloge klasičnih jezikov kot medijev antične kulture v temelju interdisciplinaren in kot tak ohranja velik potencial z vidika sodobnih didaktičnih smernic. To velja tudi za obravnavo odnosa med staro in novo grščino. Možnosti vključevanja novogrških elementov v pouk starogrškega jezika obravnava projekt Greek Ancient and Modern, ki skuša spoznanja zgodovinskega jezikoslovja združiti z jezikovno didaktiko.

Research paper thumbnail of Greek: Ancient and Modern (Ελληνικά: Αρχαία και Νέα) : Ιστοσελίδα για την Εκμάθηση και Διδασκαλία της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας σε Όλη την Ιστορία της, https://u.osu.edu/greek/

Research paper thumbnail of Pleonastic use of verbs of speaking in Greek: an interpretation in terms of naturalness theory

Linguistica, 2005

This paper investigates a special use of the verbs of speaking in Greek, in which a personal verb... more This paper investigates a special use of the verbs of speaking in Greek, in which a personal verbal form of a verb of speaking is accompanied by a participle of ano­ ther verb of speaking. The latter is used pleonastically because the clause would be grammatical if the participle were omitted; cf. Chr. J. Mal. 15, 13, 31:'0 8s: Zvwv&.xoucrcx.c; btwµ6crcx.'t'o "Ai::ywv &.yvoc.1v 't'v xcx.'t'a: 'l"A"Aou xcx.ccx.crxw v. 'But when Zeno heard, he swore, saying that he knew nothing about the conspiracy against Illus.' In the first part I present the use of such pleonastic phrases in Greek with a special emphasis on their use in three Early Byzantine prose writings (in the Chronicle of John Mala/as (Chr. J. Mal.), in Pratum Spirituale (Prat. Spir.), and in Vita Theodori Syceotae ( Vita Th. Syc.), all belonging to the 6th/7th century AD). The pleonastic phrases are studied in terms of their inner structure and in terms of their syntacti...

Research paper thumbnail of Examining a Hypothesis about the Past-Oriented Aorist Infinitive in Post-Classical Greek

Transactions of the Philological Society, 2019