Academic literature on the topic 'Ancient Greek linguistics'

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2008.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-91).<br>This thesis is about phonetic events, phonetic representations, and the grammatical constraints on those representations, with respect to one particular phonetic dimension: time. It focuses on a process called beat mapping, whose clearest manifestation is in singing (as opposed to "ordinary" speech). This is the mapping of a sequence of syllables/segments onto a sequence of timing units or beats. The empirical ground is provided by Ancient Greek musical scores. We analyze the way that sensitivity to syllable weight manifests itself in beat mapping. In Ancient Greek, the musical quantity of syllables (their duration, counted in beats) is tightly controlled by their type. Taking this as a robust example of a weight-sensitive process, we set out to demonstrate that syllable weight is not about syllables, but about segments; this is contrary to what current theories of syllable weight assume (see Gordon 2004). We attempt to derive both syllable weight and syllable constituency itself from constraints on the beat mapping of segments. This beat mapping grammar is developed within the general framework of Generalized Correspondence Theory (McCarthy and Prince 2005), and exploits certain properties of correspondence relations, notably non-linearity and reciprocity (bidirectionality). The mapping of segments onto beats respects their linear order but does not reflect them: it is a many-to-many mapping. Correspondence also provides the basis for a new definition of "syllable," which rests on two things: the reciprocity of correspondence relations, and a principle of "salience matching" in mappings between non-homologous domains.<br>by J.D. Hill.<br>S.M.

This thesis investigates the linguistic and philological characteristics of the primary interjections in Ancient Greek drama. It employs Ameka’s definition and classification from 1992 as its theoretical base, and provides a comprehensive research survey. The thesis has a data-driven approach, and is based on all items traditionally classified as interjections. In the chapter on morphology and syntax, the unique characteristics of interjections are presented. E.g., NPs co-occurring with interjections form an interjection phrase, which follows a specific pattern, in accordance with a phrase schema. The chapter on semantics, which is the main part of the thesis, employs an analytical model based on a moderate minimalism approach. This assumes that all items have a core meaning that can be identified without the aid of context, yet allows different, but related, meanings. The definition adopted in the present thesis states that interjections share only formal characteristics, and thus can be divided into categories based on their semantic features, which are defined using Kaplan’s notion of informational equivalence. The thesis deals with three such categories, each with its individual semantic properties: expressive interjections, express the speaker’s experience of emotion and/or cognition; conative interjections, express what the speaker wants the addressee or auditor to do; imitative interjections, depict or reproduce sounds or events. Items in category 1 are the most frequent and thus receive most attention. In the chapter on pragmatics, it is proposed that the primary function of interjections is to express the core semantics in a specified context. Felicity conditions are suggested for an utterance to convey the primary meaning of an interjection. Interjections are also shown to have various secondary functions, e.g. that of strengthening markers. Finally, a lexicon is provided, which offers individual informational equivalents of all interjections under study.

This doctoral thesis investigates dialect contact, identity and change in the ancient Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the fourth and third centuries BC, as evidenced in the surviving epigraphic sources. South Italy is an area of the ancient Greek-speaking world in which a comprehensive investigation of the linguistic evidence has not previously been attempted. By considering linguistic questions within their broader socio-historical environment, I propose a radical redrawing of the dialect map of this area. I first present the historical context, the linguistic evidence and the methodological framework of my research in the introduction. In the first chapter I reject previous hypotheses about dialect contact in South Italy around 300 BC on the basis of both historical and linguistic arguments. I then propose a new and empirically better supported explanation for the development of the ‘severior’ long-vowel system in the dialect of the southern city of Locri, which previous studies have generally attributed to influence from the dialect of the important northern city of Taras and taken as evidence for Taras’ linguistic influence over the rest of Magna Graecia, and possibly also for the existence of a local Doric koina (i.e. a common dialect). In the second chapter I offer a new analysis of the inscriptional record from Locri and show that, in the absence of compelling evidence for influence from the dialect of Taras, a high level of prestige remained attributed to the traditional local dialect until at least the mid-third century. At the same time, the southern colonies in general, including Locri, can be shown to have been exposed to the koine before the northern ones, such as Taras, as a result of frequent contact with the Greeks of near Sicily in the fourth and early third centuries. In the third chapter I complete my investigation by assessing the use of dialectal features in literary texts produced in South Italy around the same period (both metrical inscriptions and literary works transmitted in manuscripts). The evidence of these texts, combined with that of documentary inscriptions, provides a deeper insight into matters of dialect identity and prestige in this area. After summarising the results of my research, I conclude my investigation with a brief discussion of the socio-historical reasons why a Doric koina did not develop in South Italy as in other areas.

More than sixty years after Michael Ventris’ decipherment of the Linear B script, 14 of its 87 syllabic signs still have no sound-values assigned to them. This group of ‘undeciphered’ signs represent a significant gap in our ability not only to read the Linear B script, but also to understand its development and use. Chapter 1 of this thesis analyses the origins and usage of signs with known sound-values to establish what types of values are in principle most likely to be found amongst the undeciphered signs: this investigation also enables an exploration of the development of Linear B, its relationship with its parent script Linear A, and the motivating factors underlying the creation of new Linear B signs. Chapter 2 consists of studies of each individual undeciphered sign, including a palaeographic analysis of their forms, discussion of their corpus of attestations, and an examination of their prospects of decipherment and possible sound-values in the light of the results of Chapter 1. Finally, Chapter 3 employs this group of signs in a case-study to explore the potential of palaeographic analysis to contribute to our understanding of wider issues concerning the Linear B script and its context of use within the Mycenaean palaces. This case-study focuses in particular on two main uses of palaeography: as a means of assigning a relative chronology to Linear B texts, and as evidence for the reconstruction of the Mycenaean scribes’ administrative work and training.

This thesis combines a philosophical interpretation of Epicurean attitudes to language with literary analysis of the language of DRN. Chapters 1-2 describe Epicurean attitudes to diachronic and synchronic linguistic phenomena. In the first chapter I claim that the Epicurean account of the first stage of the development of language involves pre-rational humans acting under a ‘strong’ form of compulsion. The analogies with which Lucretius describes this process were motivated by a structural similarity between the Epicurean accounts of phylogenetic and ontogenetic psychology. Chapter 2 explores the Epicurean account of word use and recognition, central to which are ‘conceptions’. These are attitudes which express propositions; they are not mental images. Προλήψεις, a special class of conception, are self-evidently true basic beliefs about how objects in the world are categorized which, alongside the non-doxastic criteria of perceptions and feelings, play a foundational role in enquiry. Chapter 3 offers a reconstruction of an Epicurean theory of metaphor. Metaphor, for Epicureans, involves the subordination of additional conceptions to words to create secondary meanings. Secondary meanings are to be understood by referring back to primary meanings. Accordingly, Lucretius’ use of metaphor regularly involves the juxtaposition in the text of primary and secondary uses of terms. An account of conceptual metaphor in DRN is given in which the various conceptual domains from which Lucretius draws his metaphorical language are mapped and explored. Chapter 4 presents a new argument against ‘atomological’ readings of Lucretius’ atoms/letters analogies. Lucretian implicit etymologies involve the illustration, via juxtaposition, of language change across time. This is fully in keeping with the Epicurean account of language development. Chapter 5 describes Lucretius’ reflections on and interactions with the Greek language. I suggest that the study of lexical Hellenisms in DRN must be sensitive to the distinction between lexical borrowing and linguistic code-switching. I then give an account of morphological calquing in the poem, presenting it as a significant but overlooked strategy for Lucretian vocabulary-formation.

The thesis comprises an investigation of three aspects of sentence structure in Classical Greek (henceforth CG) dramatic poetry: order of the main sentence elements (subject, verb, and object) within the clause, the emphatic position at the start of the clause, and the structure of inter-clausal linking. It is argued that these three features, usually considered separately, are interdependent, and that intra-clausal word order is directly related to the structure of compound and complex sentences. The discussion undertakes a systematic survey of subject, verb, and object order in a corpus of texts, proposes an explanation for the observed order, and develops a model which explains how prominence within the clause is exploited in clause linking to produce the complement structures observed in Homeric and tragic complementation.

Cette étude porte sur l'emploi d'adjectifs neutres en fonction adverbiale en grec ancien, sur un corpus constitué de l'ensemble de la poésie archaïque, d'Homère à Pindare. Les données recueillies ont été, autant que possible, confrontées aux données des auteurs classiques et des poètes alexandrins, et replacées dans la perspective de la linguistique indo-européenne. Une étude morphologique montre le caractère récent des adverbes en ως en grec homérique, alors que le neutre adverbial semble constituer un procédé d'adverbialisation ancien et courant. Un examen sémantique des neutres adverbiaux et des adverbes en ως fait apparaître que ces derniers présentent des traits sémantiques typiques d'une catégorie d'adverbes en cours de développement, puisqu'il s'agit presque exclusivement d'adverbes de manière, alors que les neutres adverbiaux apparaissent, chez Homère, dans presque toutes les catégories d'adverbes, ce qui est le propre d'un procédé d'adverbialisation qui a déjà connu une forte productivité. Enfin, une étude syntaxique souligne les limites de la thèse traditionnelle qui voit dans nombre d'adjectifs neutres employés comme adverbes des accusatifs d'objet interne : cette hypothèse ne tient pas compte de l'existence de nombreux neutres adverbiaux qui ne sauraient s'expliquer ainsi, et elle suppose que l'on ait pu substantiver sans restriction des adjectifs au neutre singulier, ce qui n'est pas le cas chez Homère. Cette étude syntaxique met enfin en lumière les étapes du développement des adverbes en ως : ceux-ci sont d'abord apparus dans des contextes où le sujet avait un contrôle sur l'action, ainsi que dans des contextes où l'adverbe est orienté vers le sujet<br>The object of this work is to describe and explain the use of neuter adjectives as adverbs in Ancient Greek. It is based on a corpus comprising all archaic Greek poetry, from Homer to Pindar. Whenever possible, this data is compared with the data of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and put into an Indo-European perspective. The examination of the morphology of adverbs in archaic Greek shows that the adverbs in ως are a recent development in Homer, whereas adverbial neuters seem to have been the default way of deriving an adverb from an adjective shortly before the archaic period. The semantics of the adverbs in ως displays typical features of a relatively new adverbial formation: in Homer, the suffix ως is only found in adverbs expressing manner. On the other hand, neuter adjectives used as adverbs are found in almost every adverbial function, which is the expected behaviour of a very productive adverbial formation. Finally, a syntaxic study of the adjectives in archaic Greek shows that the use of neuter adjectives as adverbs cannot be explained as a special case of internal accusative: this hypothesis is unable to account for numerous neuter adjectives used as adverbs, and implies that neuter adjectives could be used as substantives in singular without any restriction, which is not the case in Homer. This syntaxic study also sheds light on the development of the adverbs in ως: they first appeared in contexts where the subject controlled the process, and in contexts where the adverb is subject-oriented