Greek polydefinites revisited (original) (raw)

Eliding the noun in close apposition, or Greek polydefinites revisited

2007

In this paper we propose a treatment of Greek polydefinites as an instance of close apposition, as in Burns the poet. We argue that like close appositives, Greek polydefinites consist of two DPs, the only difference being that one of them contains noun ellipsis. We propose that both polydefinites and close ap-positives involve a process of Referential-role identification, in the spirit of the proposal by Higginbotham (1985) for theta-role identification in cases of ad-jectival modification. We show that our proposal can shed light on the ordering freedom of polydefinites, their discourse properties, the kind of adjectives that can appear in the construction, as well as the lack of polyindefinites. 1

Clitics in Greek restrictive relatives: an integrated approach

Reading, 2005

In this paper we examine the distribution of clitic pronouns in Greek restrictive relatives introduced by the complementizer pu. After presenting the two major analyses of relative clauses in the literature (that is, the operator analysis and the raising analysis), we go through the advantages and the disadvantages of the proposal put forth in Alexiadou & Anagnostopoulou (2000) who offer a raising analysis in the spirit of the antisymmetric program of . Having pointed out many weaknesses in both analyses, we conclude that a mixed (matching) analysis to relativization (see Chomsky 1965, Sauerland 1998) offers both theoretical and empirical benefits. As to the distribution of the clitic, we observe that the analyses of the phenomenon up to date i) have made an unnecessary distinction between the pu-and the opiosrelatives, and ii) have ignored the parameter of D-linking of the relative phrase, a parameter that seems to be responsible for many of the 'curious' aspects of resumption in Greek relative clauses. * We would like to thank the 35 native speakers that responded to our questionnaire. We are also grateful to Michalis Georgiafentis and Irene Philippaki-Warburton for their constructive comments. The first author would like to thank the University of Reading (RETF studentship) and AHRB for financially supporting his research.

Monadic definites and polydefinites: their form, meaning and use

Journal of Linguistics, 2004

This paper focuses on two types of definites in Greek – MONADICS and POLYDEFINITES – and provides a constraint-based account of their form, meaning and use. Specifically, I discuss three core issues that have not been addressed in previous work. First, the special pragmatic import of polydefinites. These are associated with contextual constraints that go beyond the uniqueness entailments of standard (monadic) definites. Their idiosyncratic morphosyntax achieves effects similar to those induced in other languages solely by prosodic means and illustrated by phenomena subsumed within the term DEACCENTING. Second, the morphosyntax of definites. I argue that the Greek definite article can be best analysed as a PHRASALAFFIX, and provide a composition approach in the spirit of previous work couched in HPSG. Monadics and polydefinites are treated uniformly, without positing unmotivated complexity in the grammar for deriving the form of the latter. The definite concord and linear order facts...

Definites and possessives in modern Greek: an HPSG syntax for noun phrases

1995

This work discusses topics in noun phrase syntax, in particular, definite and posses¬ sive constructions. A syntax of nominal categories is provided that complements descrip¬ tions of English-style, determiner-centric nominal systems, by accommodating definite concord phenomena, "determinerless" NPs, and elliptical phrases that lack a noun head. In addition, the syntactic properties and interpretation of possessives are discussed and an account is presented that enables a wide range of interconnected phenomena to be explained in terms of a simple hypothesis, the possessive / pseudo-possessive partition. The data considered herein for the most part come from Modern Greek, nonetheless, the phenomena described are also characteristic of a wide range of languages, including Romance, Scandinavian and Semitic. The noun phrase theory provided is formulated in Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). Much research on the syntax of noun phrases assumes that quantifier determine...

DETs in the functional syntax of Greek nominals

Journal of Greek Linguistics, 2011

In this dissertation, I explore the formal mechanisms underlying restrictive modification by nominals (RMN). The central claim is that RMN is dependent on how definiteness is encoded in a given language. In Greek, RMN is exemplified by extra definite determiners followed by bare adjectives, as shown in (1) below. These may precede or follow the matrix nominal: (1) To ksilino to kuti to skalisto The wooden the box the carved "The carved wooden box"/ "The carved box the wooden one" Syntactically, I argue that the determiner and the adjective may form either a restrictive or nonrestrictive nominal depending on their structural position. Focusing on restrictive nominals, I argue that they are adjuncts to nP, which raise to FocP when focused. These adjuncts are small nominals, consisting of acategorial roots and n. A look at the structure of the matrix noun reveals iii that adjectives adjoin to NumP, as they are always prenominal. A look at genitives also suggests that Greek nouns move as high as NumP. Central to this thesis is the question of what licenses RMN. Previous analyses have correlated it with rich morphology (Lekakou and Szendrői, 2007, 2008, 2010). For them, the determiner is the spell-out of inflection, but is otherwise a semantic expletive. To these claims, I counter-argue that RMN is best viewed as being dependent on how definiteness is encoded and that the definite determiner is simply underspecified for definiteness. Assuming that definiteness consists of two components, familiarity and uniqueness, and based on data from Standard English and Scottish English, I propose that definite determiners spelling out one component, familiarity, are predicted to exhibit RMN. Familiarity and uniqueness can thus be mapped into two syntactic projections, FamP and ιP, respectively. I then propose a syntactico-semantic mechanism that derives these constructions. Hence, this research offers a modern cross-linguistic account of RMN, while it also provides us with new insights about how definiteness can be encoded cross-linguistically. "Of all the things which wisdom provides to make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship Epicurus A few years ago, I decided to take a long journey. In the course of this journey I had the rare privilege to meet, work, and be friends with a wide array of marvelous people. In this section, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who helped me complete this journey: my professors, friends and family. First, I would like to offer my warmest thanks to Elizabeth Cowper, my supervisor. Elizabeth has been a true mentor to me, an inexhaustible source of inspiration and motivation that every graduate student wishes for. I have benefited greatly from her keen ideas, excellent guidance, invigorating and stimulating discussions. Each and every meeting has been an inspiration to me in many different ways. I am most grateful for her incessant encouragement and availability through all these years, for her genuine interest and generous offer to help when necessary. I will always be grateful as well as deeply honored that Elizabeth has been my mentor and supervisor. Likewise, I am very thankful to other core members of my committee-Alana Johns, Diane Massam and Daniel C. Hall. Alana has always encouraged me to the right directions providing me with generous feedback and truly refreshing ideas. Alana"s Core Syntax was the course that inspired me towards the minimalist syntax. She has always been part of my grad life and I will be very grateful to her for her support and interest in my progress. I am also equally thankful to Diane Massam. I have benefited greatly from inspirational and substantial discussions. Diane has also been the second reader of my Master thesis, and has always provided me with all the important research directions and bibliography. Daniel C. Hall also provided me with great ideas v and pointers, even before he became part of the dissertation defense committee. I am very grateful to him for agreeing to be a member of this committee, as well as for offering all the necessary feedback in areas, like semantics and phonology. I am especially thankful to Professor Brian Joseph and Ileana Paul for agreeing to read this dissertation and serve on the defense exam committee. I feel honored that I had the opportunity to talk to them, not only during the exam, but also afterwards. Meeting them has been a great pleasure and their feedback and enlightening research ideas will be a true inspiration for my future work. This dissertation has also greatly benefited from exchanges with Marika Lekakou, Christina Schmitt, and Dimitra Kolliakou, as well as with the Syntax Project audience. Overall, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation and warmest thanks to Elan Dresher,

Proleptic constructions in Modern Greek

Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 27, 2023

We investigate the semantics of an attitudinal construction in Modern Greek, where an attitude verb may take an accusative object followed by a CP (e.g. 'Maria wants Yanis.ACC i [ CP pro i only love her]'). Drawing on literature (Kotzoglou 2002; Kotzoglou and Papangeli 2007; Kotzoglou 2017) arguing that the accusative object is base-generated in the matrix clause, we propose that this is an instance of prolepsis. Importantly, unlike proleptic constructions described in other languages, the proleptic object can have de dicto readings, despite being base-generated in the matrix clause. We propose an analysis in terms of semantic lowering, along the lines of Dawson and Deal (2019), arguing that semantic lowering is not restricted to extensional, but can also apply to intensional types of pronouns. Finally, we describe an additional semantic restriction on the proleptic object, as well as the implications of the Modern Greek case for the broader function of prolepsis and the syntax-semantics interface.

On the Marginal Functions and Features of Object Clitics, with Special Reference to Modern Greek

Revue québécoise de linguistique, 2000

Written within the minimalist program approach to grammar (Chomsky 1995), this paper examines the nature of θ-role requirements in three types of object clitic constructions: idiomatic and affected accusative in Modern Greek, and affected dative in Modern Greek and French. I do not treat the idiomatic clitic constructions as lexically listed VPs, but as being derived syntactically. Furthermore, I argue that these constructions contain Tense and Person intrinsic features that are not visible to the syntax, and an obligatory θ-feature [EXPERIENCER] checked in the syntax by means of the operation Attract-F. Affected accusatives are analyzed as non-A-bound θ-marked affixes which attract an interpretable θ-feature [EXPERIENCER] associated with V. A simple VP syntactic structure without clitic movement is attributed to them. Lastly, for affected dative constructions, I propose a v shell syntactic structure with base-generation of the clitic.