Multiple exponence in Modern Greek varieties: the case of implicit derivational multiple exponence in Griko

Koutsoukos, Nikolaos
(2018) “A glimpse into Greek linguistics: investigating the past, the present and the future of Greek language” workshop. — Location: University of Ljubljana (18.May.2018)

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  • Koutsoukos, NikolaosUCLouvain
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Abstract
The general practice in modern linguistic theories is to focus on the standard forms of languages. However, by concentrating on standard languages, research often excludes some aspects of variation right from the start. Recently, the theoretical value of microvariation studies has been highlighted (cf. Poletto 2012). Μodern Greek shows a rich dialectal variation and, in most cases, the dialects exhibit crucial divergence from Standard Modern Greek. Modern Greek dialects are traditionally distinguished into Northern and Southern, on the basis of certain phonological criteria (Trudgill 2003). However, this categorization is far from covering all the deviances among the numerous dialectal varieties. Modern Greek dialectal varieties show interesting morphological phenomena due to contact with other languages, cf. the Heptanesian dialect which was in close contact with Romance varieties and the dialects of Aivali and Moschonisia which were in close contact with Turkish, or their diachronic evolution, cf. the Tsakonian dialect (Ralli 2003, 2016a,b). Thus, they constitute cases par excellence in which morphological theories and approaches can be tested and evaluated. (Ralli 2009). In this talk, I analyze a case of implicit derivational multiple exponence. Following Harris (2017: 9), “Multiple (or extended) exponence is the occurrence of multiple realizations of a single morphosemantic feature, bundle of features, or derivational category within a word”. Multiple exponence may appear both in inflectional and derivational morphology. Multiple exponence can be distinguished into explicit derivational multiple exponence, i.e. the pleonastic information is encoded by two distinct affixes, and while we speak of implicit derivational multiple exponence, i.e. the pleonastic information is encoded inherently on the stem and by one affix (cf. Gardani 2015). For this purpose, I analyze data from the Greek dialect spoken in Southern Italy in the area of Salento, namely Griko. Griko is a dialect of Greek origin spoken by approximately 20,000 speakers in 9 neighbouring villages which are located in the centre of the Salentine peninsula (Southern Italy). Traditional descriptions of Griko have already been published, including a general description of the grammatical system as well as aspects of the diachronic evolution of the dialect (see, among others, Karanastasis, 1997; Rohlfs 1972a,b). In Griko, we notice the following formations: (1) απορ-ίdz(ω) [aporidzo]V ‘to lack’ BASE(V)- VERBALIΖER.INFL αγαπ-ίdz(ω) [aγapidzo]v ‘to love’ BASE(V)- VERBALIΖER.INFL In (1), we notice that the suffix -ίdz(ω) [-idzo] in Griko is attached to bases which are already inherently specified as to the verbal category. The analysis of these cases shows that the surplus element does not signal any semantic or aspectual difference between the two members of the pair (Koutsoukos 2013, 2018). Thus, we can safely consider that the suffix is pleonastically added to the formation. The aim of this presentation is twofold; (a) to show why we need to take into consideration dialectal variation when we test hypotheses of morphological theory, and (b) to show how Modern Greek varieties can offer interesting insights into the analysis of multiple exponence.
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Koutsoukos, N. (2018). Multiple exponence in Modern Greek varieties: the case of implicit derivational multiple exponence in Griko. “A glimpse into Greek linguistics: investigating the past, the present and the future of Greek language” workshop., University of Ljubljana. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/55717