Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

Abstract The term ‘parts of speech’ refers to the distinction of (paradigms of) word classes (with their characterizing features or accidentia). The history of the division into parts of speech starts with Plato and Aristotle; centuries later, the Alexandrian grammarians established a set of eight parts of speech. This doctrine was transmitted to the Roman world; with slight adaptations, it has survived into Western grammar up to the present day. The success of this ‘Word-and-Paradigm’ model has to be explained by its functional and didactic properties. 1. Introduction The expressi…

Abstract Word formation in Ancient Greek comprises two processes, derivation and compounding. Both reach back to (Proto-)Indo-European and became very productive in Greek, bringing about a considerable expansion of the lexicon. These word formation processes (a) are governed by structural principles, (b) show interaction (between derivation and compounding, and also mutually between distinct derivational mechanisms), (c) fulfill a wide range of functional roles, and (d) are liable to technical usages and to marked stylistic exploitations. 1. Introduction Word formation …

Abstract In ancient Greek grammatical theory, word formation falls under the heading of parts of speech. Certain parts of speech have properties of type ( eîdos) and shape ( skhêma), relating to derivation ( paragōg ḗ) and compounding ( súnthesis), respectively. Ancient Greek grammars devote less attention to these processes than they do to derived vs. compounded words themselves. The type of a word is either primary ( prōtótypon) or derived ( parágōgon), its shape either simple ( haploûn) or compound ( diploûn).   Word formation (Word Formation (Derivation, Compounding)) produ…

Abstract This article aims at offering a coherent account of the major phenomena and findings pertaining to Ancient Greek word order. The article is divided into three sections: the first treats the word order of pre- and postpositives, the second the word order of the major clause constituents, and the third word order within the noun phrase. The interaction between pragmatics/information structure and prosodic/intonational phonology emerges as the core feature of Ancient Greek word order. Ancient Greek is commonly described as a free word‑order language because of th…

Abstract Although we only have access to the ancient Greek of those who could use it in writing, non-literary, colloquial, popular, commercial, and private texts ‒ as well as testimonia, lexical works, and some literature (dialogue, mime, comedy, and tragedy) ‒ provide some evidence for Greek as a spoken language in its various varieties in comparison with their written counterparts. 1. Introduction Individuals use language differently in writing and in speech. Since the activity of writing is a slower process of communication, it affords greater opportu…