Angela Ralli

Compound markers and parametric variation

This paper investigates the existence of a compound marker in Modern Greek and other typologically different languages. It argues that its presence relates to a parameter of an overtly realized paradigmatic inflection, and that its systematic or non-systematic character depends on the type of constituency with respect to the categories of stem or word that are involved in compound formation. It also shows that with respect to its origin, the marker may be the synchronic residue of a phonological epenthesis, or the product of evolution of other functional or lexical elements that have undergone the process of morphologization.

Compounding in modern Greek

Acknowledgments .- Abbreviations .- Tables .- Introduction .- 1. Defining a Greek compound . 1.1 Introduction . 1.2 Greek as a stem-based language . 1.3 In search of a definition . 1.3.1Single stress . 1.3.2 Bound constituents . 1.3.3 Structural position . 1.3.4 Linking element . 1.3.5 Semantic opacity . 1.3.6 Lexical integrity . 1.3.7 Graphic unity . 1.3.8 Compounds versus syntactic constructions .1.4 Summary . 1.5 References .- 2. Grammatical category and constituents . 2.1 Introduction . 2.2 Nouns . 2.3 Adjectives . 2.4 Verbs . 2.5 Other categories . 2.5.1 Adverbs . 2.5.2 Compounds with a pronoun or a cardinal number . 2.6 Summary . 2.7 References .- 3 Compound marking . 3.1 Introduction . 3.2 Properties . 3.2.1 Stem-driven presence . 3.2.2 Lexically-marked absence . 3.3 Linking elements cross-linguistically . 3.4 Previous analyses . 3.5 Morphological status . 3.6. The parameter of overtly expressed paradigmatic inflection . 3.7 Position . 3.8 The morphological-category parameter . 3.9 Origin . 3.10 Summary . 3.11 References .- 4 Stress and morphological structure . 4.1 Introduction . 4.2 The type of inflection . 4.3 The position of stress . 4.4 Special categories . 4.4.1 Verbal compounds . 4.4.2 Compounds ending in a derived item . 4.4.3 Neuters in -i . 4.5 More compound structures . 4.6 Recursion in compounding . 4.7 Summary . 4.8 References .- 5. Headedness and classification . 5.1 Introduction . 5.2 Classification . 5.3 Headedness . 5.3.1 The notion of head . 5.3.2 Position . 5.3.3 Exocentricity . 5.4 Summary . 5.5 References .- 6. Constraints, allomorphy and form of constituents . 6.1 Introduction . 6.2 The Bare-stem constraint . 6.3 Apparent counter-examples . 6.3.1 Allomorphy . 6.3.2 Allomorphy in compounding . 6.4 Allomorphs of Ancient Greek origin . 6.4.1 Compound types . 6.4.2 -learned compound constituents . 6.4.3. +learned compound constituents . 6.4.4 Mixed types . 6.5 Summary . 6.6 References .- 7. Coordinative compounds . 7.1 Introduction . 7.2 What is a coordinative compound? . 7.3 Classification . 7.4 Headedness . 7.5 Historical development . 7.6 Coordinative compounds in Modern Greek dialects . 7.7 Summary . 7.8 References .- 8. Verbal and deverbal compounds . 8.1 Introduction . 8.2 Categories . 8.2.1 Exocentric formations . 8.2.2 Endocentric formations . 8.3 Compound-internal theta-role saturation . 8.4 Configurations . 8.5 Meaning . 8.6 Summary . 8.7 References .- 9. Deverbal compounds with bound stems . 9.1 Introduction . 9.2 State of the art . 9.3 Compounds or derived words? . 9.4 Grammatical category of bound stems . 9.5 Headedness and restrictions . 9.6 Productivity . 9.7 Summary . 9.8 References .- 10. Compounding versus derivation and inflection . 10.1 Introduction . 10.2 Compounding versus derivation . 10.2.1 Order of application . 10.2.2 Affixoids . 10.3 Compounding versus inflection . 10.4 Summary 10.5 References .- 11. Compounds versus phrases . 11.1 Introduction . 11.2 Properties of NPs . 11.3 Properties of compounds . 11.4 Phrasal compounds . 11.5 Phrasal-compound like phrases .11.6 Constructs . 11.7 Phrasal compounds versus syntactic formations . 11.8 Summary . 11.9 References .- Appendix I Greek: a brief history . 1. Periodization . 2. Geography - Dialectal variation . 3. References .- Appendix II Greek inflection: an overview . 1. Verbal inflection . 2. Nominal inflection . 3. References .- Appendix III List of compounds .- Subject Index

Review article:Morphology in Greek Linguistics: The State of the Art

In recent years, morphology has received increasing attention within linguistic theory. It deals with word structure and attracts significant interest in languages that are morphologically rich, such as Modern Greek (hereafter Greek). In this paper, I present an overview of the main theoretical studies that focus on Greek morphology in the last four decades, with a particular emphasis on those following the framework of generative grammar. Reasons of space prevent me from giving an exhaustive presentation of all the topics that have been examined from a synchronic point of view. Moreover, I do not take into consideration studies on historical and dialectal morphology or lexical borrowing, or works that cover areas where morphological issues interact with research in domains such as computational linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics.

Morphology-syntax interface: A-N compounds vs. A-N constructs in Modern Greek

The main object of this article is the description and the analysis of two-word combinations consisting of an inflected adjective and an inflected noun, e.g. atomiki vomva ‘atomic bomb’, ekdhotikos ikos ‘publishing house’, dhimosios ipalilos ‘civil servant’, etc.1 Evidence that a class of such combinations can in fact constitute compound words will be provided (as proposed by Ralli, 1991, 1992), and an analysis of such compounds will be presented. We will also claim that not all instances of the particular set of constructions are morphological: whereas formations like mavri lista ‘black list’, psixros polemos ‘cold war’, pedhiki xara ‘playground’ and many others with a non-compositional, often idiosyncratic meaning, are compatible with the assumption that they are non-syntactic, morphological constructions, there are also formations which can be considered as being composed in syntax (e.g. odhiko dhiktio ‘road network’, piriniki dhokimi ‘nuclear testing’, proedhriko dhiataghma ‘presidential decree’). The structure of the latter presents a number of specific properties, similar to the properties of compounds, which, as we claim here, are mainly due to the nature of the lefthand constituent, i.e. the adjective and its structural relationship with the noun it modifies.2

Accessing the content of Greek historical documents

In this paper, we propose an alternative method for accessing the content of Greek historical documents printed during the 17th and 18th centuries by searching words directly in digitized documents based on word spotting, without the use of an optical character recognition engine. We describe a methodology according to which synthetic word images are created from keywords. These images are compared to all the words in the digitized documents while user feedback is used in order to refine the search procedure. In order to improve the efficiency of accessing and searching, we have used natural language processing techniques that comprise (i) a morphological generator for early Modern Greek which provides the users with the ability to search documents using only a word stem and locate all the corresponding inflected word forms and (ii) a synonym dictionary which facilitates access to the semantic context of documents and enriches the results of the search process.

Theta-Role Saturation in Greek Compounds

This study deals with theta-role saturation in deverbal and verbal compounds in Greek. We claim that theta-role saturation inside compounds is related to the configurational properties of argument structure, as well as to the properties of rich morphology, particularly to strong inflection. This claim, combined with the fact that several semantic roles may be expressed in an adjunct position whereas a more restricted set of semantic roles is represented in a complement position, can account for theta-role saturation inside Greek compounds.

Modern Greek V V dvandva compounds: A linguistic innovation in the history of the Indo-European languages1

This paper deals with [V V] dvandva compounds, which are frequently used in East and Southeast Asian languages but also in Greek and its dialects: Greek is in this respect uncommon among Indo-European languages. It examines the appearance of this type of compounding in Greek by tracing its development in the late Medieval period, and detects a high rate of productivity in most Modern Greek dialects. It argues that the emergence of the [V V] dvandva pattern is not due to areal pressure or to a language-contact situation, but it is induced by a language internal change. It associates this change with the rise of productivity of compounding in general, and the expansion of verbal compounds in particular. It also suggests that the change contributes to making the compound-formation patterns of the language more uniform and systematic. Claims and proposals are illustrated with data from Standard Modern Greek and its dialects. It is shown that dialectal evidence is crucial for the study of the rise and producti...

A Computational Treatment of Stress in Greek Inflected Forms

This paper deals with the treatment of stress in Greek inflectional morphology. First, a morphological processor is presented which is built on the basis of a linguistic analysis of Greek inflected forms. This is followed by a discussion of how stress applies to words and how stress shift phenomena are taken into account by the morphological processor. In Greek, word stress distribution is important because it represents a major difficulty in every attempt to create a morphological processor which can be used by speech recognition systems, machine readable dictionaries, and machine translation projects involving Greek as source or target language.

Structuring a Multimedia Tri-Dialectal Dictionary

This paper deals with the problem of designing and implementing a multimedia electronic dictionary of three Greek dialects in Asia Minor (Pontic, Cappadocian, Aivaliot). At first, we present the linguistic and lexicographic approach adopted, as well as the principles for designing the macro/microstructure of the dictionary. Next, we present and describe the conceptual model of the tri-dialectal dictionary. Finally, we discuss the relational schema and implementation issues. Although, in its current state, the system hosts three dialects, it is designed so as to be able to incorporate other dialectal dictionaries in the future.

Blend formation in Modern Greek

In this paper we discuss lexical blending as a rather novel but developing word-formation process in Modern Greek. We understand blends as deliberate creations that follow the structure of [stem word] compounds. We claim that the formation of blends is subject to headedness restrictions and, unlike compounds, both constituents of blends are reduced, with the non-head assuming a stronger form reduction. In our view, blend formation is situated at the boundary of linguistic competence and creativity: if blends share a certain structure with compounds, blending could be considered as part of the native speaker‟s linguistic competence. However, blends differ from compounds, in that speakers create them consciously and intentionally, for specific communicative purposes.