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Tense, Aspect, and Adverbials in Modern Greek

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TENSE, ASPECT, AND ADVERBIALS IN MODERN GREEK Georgios I. Xydopoulos Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. University College London March 1996 Αφιερώνεται στους γονείς µου. ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to provide a syntactic analysis of the tense and aspect systems, and of some classes of adverbials in Modern Greek (MG), within the Minimalist Programme (cf. Chomsky (1993, 1995a, 1995b)). In Chapter 1, I provide a summary of the Minimalist Programme for Linguistic Theory as developed in Chomsky (1993, 1995a, 1995b). I further discuss word-order in MG and I adopt a working hypothesis for the structure of the clause in the language. More specifically, I follow Philippaki- Warburton's (1985) claim that VSO is the basic order and that SVO is some kind of a "derived" order in MG. In minimalist terms, I assume that the verb moves overtly up to the Mood head for licensing. In VSO, the subject occupies its canonical position ([Spec, TP] in minimalist terms), and in SVO, it is in the [Spec, MoodP] position due to a [+theme] feature. In Chapter 2, I make a brief review of semantic theories of tense in the literature. I consider the neo-Reichenbachian model by Hornstein (1990) in more detail. On the assumption that SRE-representations are composites of SR- and ER-relations, I suggest that the former are primary while the latter are secondary temporal relations. Moreover, I adopt the neo-Reichenbachian model in the representation of the tense system in MG. Next, I propose a mapping mechanism from the semantics to the syntax of tense in MG influenced by Giorgi & Pianesi's (1991) theory of tense syntax. More specifically, I suggest that SR-relations are mapped to the functional head of T1. I also claim that T is responsible for the licensing of the subject in MG. Likewise, I suggest that ER-relations are mapped to the functional head of T2. In Chapter 3, I discuss the case of deictic temporal adverbs (DTA) in MG. I first examine their intrinsic properties and I review the existing analyses for them in the literature. Influenced by Enη (1986, 1987), I analyse DTA's, in MG, as being the antecedent of tense by restricting its range (they will share the same index). Consequently, they will appear higher than the tense in the structure and they will c-command it. In view of their distribution in the sentence, I propose that DTA's occupy a left or right non-argument specifier of TP, in their typical positioning. I analyse their non-typical positioning as involving topicalisation or focusing of the adverbial by an operation of Move F (attracted by a feature in the relevant head). In Chapter 4, I examine the distinction between perfective and imperfective viewpoint aspect in MG, in terms of Smith (1991). I investigate the semantic and morphological properties of viewpoint aspect in MG and I suggest that viewpoint aspect is an independent functional category in MG and that it heads an Aspect Phrase in the sense of X-bar theory. Apart from checking the aspectual features of the verb, the aspect head is also responsible for the licensing of the formal features of the object. Moreover, I examine the status of some adverbials in MG that show a sensitivity to the perfective- imperfective specification of the verb. I propose that these adverbials (non- directionally) select an AspP on the basis of its [± perfective] specification. They appear by Merge as (left or right) non-argument specifiers of AspP, in their typical positioning, and they are topicalised or focused when they display non-typical positioning. In Chapter 5, I discuss the syntax of "manner" adverbs in MG. I examine their lexical and syntactic properties. I also examine the properties of "subject-oriented" adverbs and I review existing treatments of this phenomenon. I also consider the possibility of adverb incorporation in the language as formulated by Rivero (1992a) and I show that empirical evidence suggests rather for a lexical than a syntactic solution to this issue. On the basis of the distribution of "manner" adverbs in MG, I propose that they should be represented as left or right non-argument specifiers of the Verb Phrase, in their typical positioning. Their non-typical positioning is accounted for in terms of topicalisation or focusing as with temporal and aspectual adverbials. In terms of licensing, I consider "manner" adverbs to be predicates (non-directionally) selecting a VP to which they assign a type of thematic role. For subject-oriented adverbs I propose that they can obtain this interpretation since they are lexically compatible to a [+ human/animate] agent and they take wide scope with respect to the whole sentence. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A number of people helped me during my postgraduate studies in London and the writing of this thesis. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and esteem to my thesis supervisor Rita Manzini. Rita taught me how to develop, express, and defend my ideas about linguistics. She was always there to help me with my research, by discussing with me solutions to my problems and by reviewing hundreds of pages of manuscripts. I wish to thank her for her confidence in me, her patience, her constant support, her encouragement, and constructive criticism. I am grateful to her for being an excellent teacher and a very good friend. Next, I would like to thank Neil Smith for his support, encouragement, patience, sincerity, and confidence in me during my PhD studies at UCL. He was always willing to help me with any problem linguistic or non-linguistic. He had the patience to go painstakingly through earlier drafts of this thesis and suggest to me many ways of improving it. I thank him for that and I hope that the present version will not disappoint him very much. Annabel Cormack is the next person that I would like to mention here. I am grateful to her for many discussions about linguistics that helped me in the formation of my ideas. I also would like to thank her for trusting me as her research assistant and for being a good friend. I benefited very much from discussions I had with Misi Brody, Gogo Catsimali, Wynn Chao, Gaberell Drachman, Asli Gφksel, Ruth Kempson, Hans van de Koot, Ana-Maria Madeira, Irene Philippaki-Warburton, Angela Ralli, Anna Roussou, and Ianthi Tsimpli. I also wish to thank Tor Aafarli, Artemis Alexiadou, Joγo Costa, Sila Klidi, Paulien Rijkhoek, Anna Roussou, Tim Stowell, Tom Stroik, Ellen Thompson, Lisa Travis, Ianthi Tsimpli, and Georges Tsoulas for helping me with the collection of data and bibliography necessary for my work. Furthermore, I wish to thank the following people for supporting financially my research and life in London in various ways. First, I am most grateful to my father Yannis who shouldered the difficult task of sponsoring the whole of my postgraduate studies in England. Next, I wish to thank Annabel Cormack and the UCL Department of Linguistics (and especially Hans van de Koot, Rita Manzini, and Neil Smith) for offering me part-time research and teaching employment. I also wish to thank the Linguistics Association of Great Britain and the UCL Postgraduate School for financing my participation as a speaker in international linguistics conferences. Finally, my life in the department was made a lot easier thanks to the help of Stefanie Anyadi, Molly Bennett, Judith Crompton and Warwick Smith. I also would like to thank my friends who supported me during my studies. More specifically, I am grateful to Stefanie Anyadi, Panos Christogeorgis, Russell and Rena Graham, Vaggelis Kolokotronis, Hans van de Koot, Dimitra Rigopoulou, Villy Rouchota, Anna Roussou, Ianthi Tsimpli, and Dimitris Verganelakis whose presence in England helped to make my life a lot nicer than it could be. Next, I wish to thank my linguist friends Artemis Alexiadou, Elena Anagnostopoulou, Anastasia Giannakidou, Sila Klidi, Georges Tsoulas, and Spyridoula Varlokosta for the fun we had in the Berlin and Salzburg conferences. Finally, many thanks to my good friends in Greece Nikos Papakostas, Agla Papakosta, Spyros Tragos, Nondas Karavas and Sofia Siembou, Michalis Skoulatos, Andreas Rigos and Maria Stamou, Yorgos Trigas, Anastasis Zoitopoulos and Dina Kallimani, and Amalia Vrachlioti for being wonderful and loyal friends and for supporting me in various ways all the years of my absence from home. The next person that I wish to thank is Phaedra Capoyianni. I am grateful to her for her constant support, encouragement, and true love all the years that we have been together. Moreover, I would like to thank her for changing her life and coming to England with me during the final and most difficult part of my research. Her presence here helped me to overcome numerous problems with my work and life and provided me with the energy and love that allowed me to complete my work. Finally, I am most grateful to my parents Yannis and Bica who offered me the opportunity to study abroad in the best possible conditions and supported me both morally and financially. I thank them for their patience and confidence in me all those years. This thesis is dedicated to them with all my gratitude. I also wish to thank my brother Thanos for his support, love, friendship, help, and for believing in me. My greatest debt of gratitude goes to my father Yannis who apart from his moral and financial support taught me to work hard in order to achieve my aims and also showed to me how to study language and enjoy its qualities. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: "INTRODUCTION" 1.
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