The Noun Phrase In Ancient Greek

On the basis of a functional analysis of the order and articulation of noun phrase constituents in Herodotus, this book tries to answer the question as to which factors determine word order variation in the Greek NP.

The structure of the noun phrase in Ancient Greek is extremely flexible: the various constituents may occur in almost every possible order and each constituent may or may not be preceded by an article. However, the use and function of the various options have received very little attention. This book tries to fill that gap. A functional analysis of the structure of the NP in Herodotus illucidateswhich arguments lead a native speaker in his choice to select one of the various possible NP patterns. The results do not only increase our knowledge of the NP, but also lead to a better interpretation of Ancient Greek texts.

The internal ordering of Latin noun phrases is very flexible in comparison with modern European languages. Whereas there are a number of studies devoted to the variable placement of modifiers, The Noun Phrase in Classical Latin Prose proposes an entirely new approach: a discussion of the semantic and syntactic properties of both nouns and modifiers. Using recent insights in general linguistics, it argues that not only pragmatic factors but also semantic factors (whether we are dealing with an inherent property, the author’s assessment, or a further specification of a referent) are responsible for the internal ordering of Latin noun phrases. Additionally, this book discusses prepositional phrases functioning as modifiers, and appositions, which have received little attention in the literature.

The use in Classical Greek of the two negatives, ov and un, in noun phrases is a much-debated matter in the literature on Greek grammar. Several, sometimes interrelated, factors have been adduced as decisive for the choice of negative in such cases - the predominant one being that of reference. Already a brief survey of almost any Greek text, however shows that there is a considerable overlap between the employment of ov and un in the uses which the grammarians distinguish. The present study investigates in a consequent fashion the use of the two negatives in noun phrases in the works of Plato. A new picture of negation in Greek noun phrases is thus gradually built up, where the interplay between ov and un in such cases is described in a more consistent way than by the earlier accounts.

This book traces the development of Greek from Proto-Indo-European to around the 5th century BC, drawing on all the tools of scientific historical and comparative linguistics. Don Ringe begins by outlining the grammar of Proto-Indo-European, focusing on its complex phonology, phonological rules, and inflectional morphology. He then discusses the changes in both phonology and inflectional morphology that took place in the development of Greek up to the point at which the dialects began to diverge, seeking to establish chronological relationships between those changes. The book places particular emphasis on the diversification of Greek into the attested groups of dialects, the relationship between those dialects, and the extent to which innovations spread across dialect boundaries. The final two chapters cover syntactic changes in the prehistory and history of Ancient Greek, and the sources of the Ancient Greek lexicon. The volume contributes to long-standing debates surrounding the classification of Ancient Greek dialects, and offers a discussion of the tension between cladistics and contact phenomena that is relevant to the study of the relationships within any language family.

In The Morphosyntax of the Noun Phrase in Hieroglyphic Luwian Anna H. Bauer provides a full and detailed account of the noun phrases in Hieroglyphic Luwian, an Anatolian language attested mainly in inscriptions from the first millennium BC. The available material is analysed according to the different elements found in the NP, and a chapter each is devoted to determination, quantification, modification and apposition. Along with discussing the structures from a synchronic point of view, Anna Bauer also draws parallels to neighbouring languages and ongoing changes within HLuwian itself. It is shown how other languages have left their mark on HLuwian and how that influences the HLuwian system.

This book presents a more accurate and detailed analysis of Ancient Greek temporal expressions which supersedes all previous studies.

Pragmatics forms nowadays an integral part of the description not only of modern languages but also of ancient languages such as Latin and Ancient Greek. This book explores various pragmatic phenomena in these two languages, which are accessible through corpora consisting of a broad range of text types. It comprises empirical synchronic studies that deal with three main topics: (i) speech acts and pragmatic markers, (ii) word order, and (iii) discourse markers and particles. The specificity of this book consists in the discussion and application of various methodological approaches. It provides new insights into the pragmatic phenomena encountered, compares, where possible, the results of the investigation of the two languages, and draws conclusions of a more general nature. The volume will be of interest to linguists working on pragmatics in general and to scholars of Latin and Ancient Greek in particular.