Indirect objects in Calabrian Greek: a fading encoding

Natural Language & Linguistic Theory

In this paper, we compare the properties of dative and genitive objects in Classical vs. Modern Greek. Based on the difference in behavior of dative/genitive objects of ditransitives and monadic transitives in the two periods of Greek which correlates with a range of systematic alternations in the case realization of Modern Greek IO arguments depending on the presence and category (DP vs. PP) of lower theme arguments, we argue that there are two distinct modes of dative and genitive objective case assignment: they are either prepositional or dependent (structural) cases, as also proposed by Baker and Vinokurova (2010), and Baker (2015) on the basis of cross-linguistic evidence. If we adopt this proposal a number of important implications follow both for the syntax of Modern Greek genitive indirect objects and for the understanding of the change from Classical to Standard Modern Greek which must be seen as a development from a grammatical system where dative and genitive were lexical...

1. Main claims  We describe two systems of dative and genitive case in two different stages of Greek: (i) Classical Greek (CG): two cases (dative and genitive) in two environments (transitives and ditransitives). (ii) Standard Modern Greek (SMG): one case (genitive) in one environment (ditransitives).  The standard approach to genitive/dative as inherent/lexical case can neither express the difference between the two systems nor the transition from the one to the other in a principled manner.  The proposal that there are two modes of dative and genitive case assignment in the verbal domain (Baker & Vinokurova 2010; Baker 2015) can:-CG: lexical/prepositional dative and genitive.-SMG: dependent genitive in the sense of Marantz (1991). Sensitive to the presence of a lower argument in the VP.-The transition from CG to SMG is a transition from a lexical/prepositional system to a dependent case system.  We discuss a consequence of our proposal concerning the (un-)availability of dative/ genitive passivization in the two patterns.  We describe how the transition from CG to SMG happened.  We address the issues of (i) parametric variation regarding the case of IOs, (ii) the relationship between morphological case and Agree and (iii) the domain for dependent accusative in SMG-type languages lacking differential object marking.

Semantic analysis of the prenominal first person singular genitive pronoun (μου) in the Greek of the documentary papyri shows that the pronoun is typically found in the position between a verbal form and an alienable possessum which functions as the patient of the predicate. When the event expressed by the predicate is patient-affecting, the possessor is indirectly also affected. Hence the semantic role of this affected alienable possessor might be interpreted as a benefactive or malefactive in genitive possession constructions. By semantic extension the meaning of the genitive case in this position is extended into goal-oriented roles, such as addressee and recipient, which are commonly denoted by the dative case in Ancient Greek.The semantic similarity of the genitive and dative cases in these constructions might have provided the basis for the merger of the cases in the Greek language.

This thesis investigates the syntax of so-called ‘dative’ arguments in Greek and the role of their abstract Case feature in their licensing, from a generative/minimalist perspective. The main claim of the thesis is that dative arguments of all types originate low, i.e. within the maximal projection of the root, in accordance with universal linking principles, and that all apparent variation regarding their surface realisation and their A-/A’- behaviour can be parameterised in terms of their Case feature and the way it is valued. The secondary claims/premises on which the main claim depends are: (a) a distinction between syntactically inactive and active inherent Case features, which are both possible for dative argument DPs, with purely structural Case being a third possibility cross-linguistically attested; (b) the assumption that minimality effects in phi-Agree must be relativised to Case features; (c) a movement analysis of dative shift (in the spirit of Larson 1988 with no mechanism of theme demotion); (d) a novel view of applicatives as elements that simply attract dative arguments to their specifier for Case-related reasons, rather than introducing/selecting them. On this view, applicatives are last resort elements and their possible heights of attachment are derivable from the event structure of the predicate. This theory of Appl attachment, coupled with a thematic hierarchy that distinguishes goals from non-goals (and experiencers) with respect to their base position derives the full typology of dative arguments. In support of these assumptions, this thesis draws on evidence from person restrictions in transitive contexts with datives and beyond (Chapter 2), which seem to be best accounted for if the argument affected by the restriction is treated as a (defective) intervener between the dative and an applicative head; the interference of (different types of) datives themselves with agreement relations in various configurations, in Greek as well as cross-linguistically (Chapter 3); the A-/A’-properties of dative arguments of all types in Greek and Romance and novel diagnostics for unpronounced copies with syntactic or interpretive effects (Chapter 4); the diachronic and cross-dialectal behaviour of dative arguments in Greek (Chapter 5), which confirms some empirical correlations that necessitate the assumptions listed above, most notably the generalisation that both (i) the strong Person Case Constraint, and (ii) minimality effects in Agree across datives imply the availability of active Case on indirect object DPs, which is minimally manifested by the existence of the dative-shifted/double-object construction.

Languages

This paper deals with the distribution of the use of the accusative as an indirect object in two major dialect groups of Modern Greek, namely Northern Greek and Pontic Greek. The loss of the dative in Medieval Greek (c. 10th c. AD) resulted in the use of the genitive as an indirect object in the southern varieties and of the accusative in Northern Greek and Asia Minor Greek. As Standard Modern Greek employs the genitive, little attention has been paid to the distribution of the accusative, and our study was aimed to fill that gap by presenting data collected in Northern Greece from speakers of both dialect groups. According to our findings, the accusative is exclusively used in all syntactic domains inherited from the Ancient Greek dative in both dialect groups, but the two groups are kept apart in terms of the obligatoriness vs. optionality or lack of clitic doubling and availability vs. lack of “high” positions, e.g., for external possessors and ethical dative constructions.

2017

This paper will examine constructions of Greek that are near-identical to Object Control structures in English. However, unlike English, the embedded clause is not infinitival, but it is introduced by the subjunctive marker na, followed by an inflected verb . I will argue that at least for some verbs in Greek the object of the main clause is generated as the subject of the embedded clause. Such a raising approach is similar to the one proposed by Hornstein (1999 ) and Boeckx & Hornstein (2003) for English and I will further argue that for both English and Greek the landing site of the moved DP is the specifier of the main clause VP.

2020

Greek and Romance have been spoken alongside of one another for centuries in southern Italy. Even though the Greek-speaking areas have been dramatically reduced over the centuries such that today Greek is now only spoken by a small number of increasingly elder speakers in a handful of villages of Calabria and southern Apulia (Salentino), the influence of Greek is still undeniable in that it has left its mark on the structures of the surrounding Romance dialects. Indeed, in this respect Rohlfs aptly coined the phrase spirito greco, materia romanza (literally "Greek spirit, Romance material") to highlight the fact that in many respects the syntax of these so-called Romance dialects is underlying Greek, despite employing predominantly Romance lexis. In this paper we draw on two case studies from the Romance and Greek varieties spoken in Calabria to illustrate how the syntax of argument-marking has variously been subject to contact-induced change, giving rise to significant variation in the marking and distribution of RECIPIENT arguments in accordance with both pragmatic and structural factors. In both cases, it will be shown that contact-induced borrowing does not replicate the original structure of the lending language but, rather, produces hybrid structures which are ultimately neither Greek nor Romance in nature.