This book examines the verb derivation in Modern Greek within an alternations framework and suggests a new model of analysis for verb derivation in general. The Greek -ízo verb derivatives constitute the focus of this study. The analysis is mainly motivated by Beth Levin's work, who attempts to define significant meaning components for the English verb on the basis of diathesis alternations. The proposed model incorporates a version of Ray Jackendoff's conceptual semantics. Issues covered in the book include the definition of five alternations for the Modern Greek verb and the identification of the underlying conceptual structures in -ízo derivation. Furthermore, the alternation classes in which the -ízo verbs appear are presented with a focus on the regularities inside these classes in relation to conceptual structures and semantic/situational fields. A principled account of the splitting of verb units is also provided and an attempt is made to answer the question of why a number of derivatives does not alternate. The book will appeal to students and researchers interested in lexical semantics, verb morphology, Modern Greek, lexicology, and the universals research.

This volume provides an unprecedented collection of data from Asia Minor Greek, namely from Cappadocian, Pharasiot, Silliot, Smyrniot, Aivaliot, Bithynian, Pontic, Propontis Tsakonian and the dialect of Adrianoupolis. It offers fresh and original reflections on the study of morphology, dialectology and language contact by examining issues regarding inflection, derivation and compounding, dealt with by Metin Bağrıaçık, Marianna Gkiouleka, Aslı Göksel, Mark Janse, Brian D. Joseph, Petros Karatsareas, Nikos Koutsoukos, Io Manolessou, Theodore Markopoulos, Dimitra Melissaropoulou, Nikos Pantelidis and Angela Ralli. An in-depth investigation of phenomena aims to increase our understanding of language change. They result either from a natural evolution of Asia Minor Greek, or from the interaction between the fusional Greek and the agglutinative Turkish or the semi-analytical Romance.

In the study of word formation, the focus has often been on generating the form. In this book, the semantic aspect of the formation of new words is central. It is viewed from the perspectives of word formation rules and of lexicalization. An extensive introduction gives a historical overview of the study of the semantics of word formation and lexicalization, explaining how the different theoretical frameworks used in the contributions relate to each other. Each chapter then concentrates on a specific question about a theoretical concept or a word formation process in a particular language and adopts a theoretical framework that is appropriate to the study of this question. From general theoretical concepts of productivity and lexicalization, the focus moves to terminology, compounding, and derivation. Theoretical frameworks discussed include Jackendoff's Conceptual Structure, Langacker's Cognitive Grammar, Lieber's lexical semantic approach to word formation, Pustejovsky's Generative Lexicon, Beard's Lexeme-Morpheme-Base Morphology, The onomasiological approach to terminology and word formation.

One of the core challenges in linguistics is elucidating compounds—their formation as well as the reasons their structure varies between languages. This book on Modern Greek rises to the challenge with a meticulous treatment of its diverse, intricate compounds, a study as grounded in theory as it is rich in data. Enhancing our knowledge of compounding and word-formation in general, its exceptional scope is a worthy model for linguists, particularly morphologists, and offers insights for students of syntax, phonology, dialectology and typology, among others. The author examines first-tier themes such as the order and relations of constituents, headedness, exocentricity, and theta-role saturation. She shows how Modern Greek compounding relates to derivation and inflection, and charts the boundaries between compounds and phrases. Exploring dialectically variant compounds, and identifying historical changes, the analysis extends to similarly formed compounds in wholly unrelated languages.

Situated at the crossroads of comparative philology, classics and general historical linguistics, this study is the first ever attempt to outline in full the developments which led from the remotest recoverable stages of the Indo-European proto-language to the complex verbal system encountered in Homer and other early Greek texts. By combining the methods of comparative and internal reconstruction with a careful examination of large collections of primary data and insights gained from the study of language change and linguistic typology, Andreas Willi uncovers the deeper reasons behind many surface irregularities and offers a new understanding of how categories such as aspect, tense and voice interact. Drawing upon evidence from all major branches of Indo-European, and providing exhaustive critical coverage of scholarly debate on the most controversial issues, this book will be an essential reference tool for anyone seeking orientation in this burgeoning but increasingly fragmented area of linguistic research.

The volume presents a collection of papers of recent generative work on Modern Greek morpho-syntax. The book is divided into three parts. Part I of the book deals with argument alternations, part II with clitics and part III with the syntax and semantics of free relatives. The book will be interesting for scholars working on Greek but also in theoretical linguistics, as it exemplifies how the study of Greek feeds the development of generative theory. The issues discussed in the book are currently highly relevant for the develop­ment of a satisfactory theory of comparative syntax as well as the interface between syntax and morphology and syntax and semantics. Thus the analyses put forth here will contribute to the elaboration of such a theory and to our understanding of cross-linguistic variation.