The paper surveys the history and the development of Greek nominal paradigms, from Mycenean Greek up to the present. In the long time span (about 3000 years) covered by written sources, two major changes contributed to reshape nominal paradigms, i.e. case syncretism, which had the effect of reducing the number of cases, and the elimination of so-called athematic declension, which resulted in the reduction of the number of inflectional classes and the redistribution of nouns between the remaining classes. It is argued that both developments can be better understood in terms of spread of stable and superstable markers, along with ongoing elimination of markers with low token frequency.
“The evolution of the Greek nominal paradigms: economy and case syncretism from Mycenean to Modern Greek”,
LURAGHI, SILVIA
2004-01-01
Abstract
The paper surveys the history and the development of Greek nominal paradigms, from Mycenean Greek up to the present. In the long time span (about 3000 years) covered by written sources, two major changes contributed to reshape nominal paradigms, i.e. case syncretism, which had the effect of reducing the number of cases, and the elimination of so-called athematic declension, which resulted in the reduction of the number of inflectional classes and the redistribution of nouns between the remaining classes. It is argued that both developments can be better understood in terms of spread of stable and superstable markers, along with ongoing elimination of markers with low token frequency.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
