Brian D. Joseph

Syntax versus the lexicon: incorporation and compounding in Modern Greek

As a contribution to the long-standing controversy in linguistics concerning the proper role in the grammar of syntax as opposed to the lexicon and of syntax as opposed to morphology, we study here the proposal made by Rivero 1992 that Modern Greek has a productive syntactic rule of Adverb Incorporation, and more generally Argument Incorporation. Based on measures of productivity and on idiosyncrasies in meaning that adverb-plus-verb and object-plus-verb combinations in Greek show, we argue that the phenomena in question are compounds or affixed forms that result from the operation of lexical rules. They are thus quintessentially morphological in nature, rather than syntactic. More generally, we see this outcome as an argument against frameworks in which morphology is collapsed into the syntactic component and in which morphology is not a separate component of grammar

On some recent views concerning the development of the Greek future system

Researchers of the historical grammar of Modern Greek agree in general terms that the particle θά derives from an older construction which included the verb θέλω. In the past years, however, there has been some disagreement about the exact point of departure, and, consequently, the exact route (or routes) of the development of θά. In this article we present a straightforward account of θά, explicating several of the disputed aspects of its development, and comparing our account to other, recently published, views. In this way we try to set the record straight with respect to the history of this important element of the Greek verbal system.

On the Synchrony and Diachrony of Modern Greek NA

Abstract The Modern Greek particle na has two main uses, as a subordinating particle and as a deictic particle.

Recovery of information in Relative Clauses: evidence from Greek and Hebrew

Modern Greek has a Relative Clause Formation process by which the target of Relativization is deleted under identity with the head of the Relative Clause these Relative Clauses are introduced by the invariant complementizer particle pu, which also introduces factive complements. (Greek also has a movement strategy for Relative Clauses, with an inflected Relative pronoun, but the details of this process are irrelevant here.) Examples of the deletion strategy are given below in (i):

Relativization in modern Greek: Another look at the accessibility hierarchy constraints

The claims made by Keenan and Comrie (and others) concerning relativization in Universal Grammar and the interaction of relative clause formation with the noun phrase accessibility hierarchy have necessarily been based on a limited amount of data from the many languages surveyed. A more detailed look, however, at relativization in one of the languages included in the sample, namely Modern Greek, reveals that certain aspects of Greek relative clause formation do not conform to the putative universals of relativization derived from the accessibility hierarchy. The necessary descriptive background for seeing how Greek provides this counter-evidence is given here, as is a discussion of the theoretical consequences of these facts.

Wackernagel affixes: evidence from Balto-Slavic

Affixes, as prototypical bound elements, are generally considered to occur in a relatively fixed position (or “slot”) within their host words, and in a fixed position with respect to other affixes. Zwicky and Pullum (1983), for instance, give this criterion as one of several that distinguish bound elements, i.e. affixes and clitics from free elements, i.e. words, and which differentiate affixes from nonaffixes, i.e. clitics and words.

What gives with es gibt? Typological and comparative perspectives on existentials in German, Germanic, and Indo-European

To the memory of Edgar Polomé, who inspired with his keen interest in Germanic and Indo-European

Socially Determined Variation in Ancient Rome

Phonological and morphological variation in Classical Latin (e.g., diphthongs ae/au vs. monophthongs e/o , retention vs. loss of final consonants and initial h- , GEN SG -is vs. -us/-os , DAT SG in -ae vs. -a , etc.) has typically been treated as regional in nature. However, these seemingly “rural” features cannot be considered instances of purely geographically based variation, for they also occur both on inscriptions from within Rome and in Roman literary usage. Coleman (1990:14) hinted at “a social dimension” to this variation, but only for au versus o variation. We argue, however, that a distinctly social dimension must be recognized for much of this variation, based on: (a) instances of hypercorrection; (b) the observation that datives in -a occur only in private, primarily domestic, inscriptions and never in public or official inscriptions; (c) Augustuss use of “rural” domos for domus , in keeping with the populist image he cultivated upon his return to Rome. This dialectal/sociolectal situation can be best understood, we argue, in terms of the model of urbanization of Milroy (1980) and Bortoni-Ricardo (1985). The transformation of originally geographic variation into socially determined variation in an urban setting resulted from migrations into Rome and the expansion of Rome after the 4th century b.c .

What counts as (an instance of) grammaticalization

Abstract I discuss here various ways in which one might devise a counting heuristic for grammaticalization with an eye to testing the quantificational claims that have been made against specific implementations of such a heuristic. More specifically, I address the question of grammaticalization as a phenomenon of individuals versus a phenomenon of speech communities versus a phenomenon of languages. Similarly, I hope to show, once the individual versus group issue is dealt with, that by adopting Haspelmath’s (2004) definition of grammaticalization as the tightening of internal dependencies, and thus a weakening of boundaries, between elements, we are in a better position to undertake a census since linguists have developed a reasonable idea of the sort of grammatical boundaries that need to be posited (word boundaries, clitic boundaries, morpheme boundaries, phoneme-to-phoneme transitions, etc.). Further, this view generalizes to offer a solution to the problematic notion of gradience in grammaticalization - cf. Kuryłowicz’s famous definition of grammaticalization as taking in movement from “less” to “more” grammatical - since linguists have long posited a hierarchy of boundary strength that can be appealed to.

Changing gender systems: A multidisciplinary approach

This article addresses various issues in the diachrony of gender marking, such as the origin and typology of gender systems, pathways of change and the question of directionality in relation to the Agreement Hierarchy, and the semantic basis of changes in gender systems in relation to the Individuation Hierarchy. It also offers an overview of recent multidisciplinary approaches to the evolution of gender systems including language acquisition research, contact linguistics, and theoretical syntax.