Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:01:07.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adjectives in Modern Greek: an instance of predication, or an old issue revisited1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Melita Stavrou
Melita Stavrou
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54 006 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the present article the problem of the position of the adjectives in the noun phrase in Modern Greek is addressed. Rather than starting from their alleged ‘asymmetrical’ distribution, according to which postnominal adjectives are only allowed in indefinite DPs, I concentrate on the possible interpretations that the adjective can have relative to the noun. The differences between prenominal and apparently postnominal adjectives in indefinite DPs suggest a predicative reading of the latter. This semantic account motivates a corresponding syntactic one, according to which the noun moving upwards to a head DEF, formally distinct from D, enters a predicative relationship with the AP generated uniquely prenominally. Such a movement is precluded in definite DPs, because the DEF position is occupied by the definite article. In this way, a number of differences observed between definite and indefinite NPs, as far as ‘postnominal’ adjectives are concerned, are seen as consequences of their predicative nature and the way this interacts with the definiteness/indefiniteness of what serves as their subject.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 79 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bolinger, D. (1967). Adjectives in English: attribution and predication. Lingua 18, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolinger, D. (1972). Linear modification. In Housholder, F. (ed.) Syntactic theory I. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 31–51.Google Scholar
Catsimali, G. (1990). Case in Modern Greek: implications for clause structure. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Reading.Google Scholar
Cinque, G. (1993). On the evidence for partial N-movement in the Romance DP. University of Venice Working Papers in Linguistics 3.2. 21–40.Google Scholar
Ferris, D. C. (1993). The meaning of syntax: a study in the adjectives of English. London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Giorgi, A. & Longobardi, G. (1991). The syntax of noun phrases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Giusti, G. (1991). The categorial status of quantified nominals. Linguistische Berichte 136. 438–452.Google Scholar
Giusti, G. (1993). La sintassi dei determinanti. Padova: UNIPRESS.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. (ed.) (1963). Universals of language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Heim, I. (1983). File change semantics and the familiarity theory of definiteness. In Bauerle, R., Schwarze, C. & von, Stechow A. (eds.) Meaning, use, and interpretation of language. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 164–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heim, I. (1989). Where does the definiteness restriction apply? Evidence from the definiteness of variables. In Reuland E. & ter Meulen A. G. B. (eds). 21–43.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J. (1985). On semantics. Linguistic Inquiry 16. 547–594.Google Scholar
Higginbotham, J. (1989). Indefiniteness and predication. In Reuland E. & ter Meulen A. G. B. (eds.). 43–71.Google Scholar
Horrocks, G. (1992). How ‘flat’ is the modern greek clause? In Christidis, A. Ph., Tzitzilis, C. & Stavrou, M. (eds.) Studies in Greek Linguistics 13. Thessaloniki: Department of Linguistics. 331–351Google Scholar
Horrocks, G. & Stavrou, M. (1986). A first attempt to explain the distribution of adjectival modifiers in Modern Greek noun phrases. In Katsanis, N., Pavlidou, T. & Charalambopoulos, A. (eds.) Studies in Greek Linguistics 6. Thessaloniki: Department of Linguistics. 109–134.Google Scholar
Horrocks, G. & Stavrou, M. (1987). Bounding theory and Greek syntax: evidence for wh-movement in NP. Journal of Linguistics 23. 79–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, C. (1989). Existential sentences in Chinese and (in)definiteness. In Reuland E. & ter Meulen A. G. B. (eds.). 226–254.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. (1977). X' syntax: a study of phrase structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jespersen, O. (1924). The philosophy of Grammar. London. G. Allen & Unwin Ltd.Google Scholar
Karanassios, Y. (1990). The propositional perspective of the noun phrase. In Christidis, A. Ph., Ronga, M. & Charalambopoulos, A. (eds.) Studies in Greek Linguistics 9. Thessaloniki: Department of Linguistics. 175–195.Google Scholar
Karanassios, Y. (1992). Syntaxe comparee du groupe nominal en grec moderne et dans d' autres langues. Doctorat d' état, Université de Paris VIII-Vincennes.Google Scholar
Longobardi, G. (1994). Reference and proper names: a theory of N-movement in syntax and Logical Form. Linguistic Inquiry.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. (Vol. 2.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Napoli, D. J. (1989). Predication theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouhalla, J. (1991). Functional categories and parametric variation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Quine, W. van O. (1960). Word and object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ralli, A. & Stavrou, M. (1995). Morphology-syntax interface: two cases of phrasal compounds. University of Athens and University of Thessaloniki. Reuland, E. & ter Meulen, A. G. B. (eds.) (1989). The representation of (in)definiteness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ritter, E. (1988). A head-movement approach to construct-state noun phrases. Linguistics 26. 909–929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stavrou, M. (1983). Aspects of the structure of the NP in Modern Greek. Ph.D. dissertation, SOAS, University of London.Google Scholar
Stavrou, M. & Horrocks, H. (1989). Clitics and demonstratives within the NP. In Setatos, M., Charalambopoulos, A., & Christidis, A. Ph. (eds.) Studies in Greek Linguistics 9. Thessaloniki: Department of Linguistics. 225–247.Google Scholar
Strawson, P. (1967). Singular terms and predication. In Philosophical logic. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. 69–89.Google Scholar
Valois, D. (1991). The internal syntax of DP and adjective placement in French and English. NELS 21. 367–382.Google Scholar
Williams, E. (1983). Against small clauses. Linguistic Inquiry 14. 287–308.Google Scholar
Williams, E. (1984). There-insertion. Linguistic Inquiry 15. 131—153.Google Scholar
Williams, E. (1989). The anaphoric nature of ©-roles. Linguistic Inquiry 20. 425–456.Google Scholar
Zamparelli, R. (1994). Correspondences in functional structure across major categories. Ms., University of Rochester.Google Scholar