3. The genesis of clitic doubling from Ancient to Medieval Greek
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Gunnar de Boel
Abstract
The study of the development of clitic doubling in Greek and its possible connection with the other Balkan languages amounts to ascertain when it came into being, and why and under which conditions it occurred. Greek has no subject clitics. As for object clitic doubling, the oldest – isolated – examples can be found in the (private) papyri of the Hellenistic Age, but they hardly appear in literary texts. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that object clitic doubling existed in its modern form in the oldest texts that use the demotic language (from the twelfth century onwards), but that it was avoided by scribes who wanted to maintain strict standards. This popular, or even vulgar, character seems to be due to the essentially redundant nature of clitic doubling in Greek: it concerns only topics, i.e., given information, already marked for its “givenness” by specific devices, such as the anteposed definite article. It does not depend on object agreement marking through clitic doubling. In the period under study (up to ca 1600), clitic doubling is facultative, and even if the clitics cannot be separated from their verb, their position with respect to the verb (pre- or postverbal) is determined by a combination of syntactic and pragmatic factors. They are certainly not yet to be considered as verbal morphemes.
Abstract
The study of the development of clitic doubling in Greek and its possible connection with the other Balkan languages amounts to ascertain when it came into being, and why and under which conditions it occurred. Greek has no subject clitics. As for object clitic doubling, the oldest – isolated – examples can be found in the (private) papyri of the Hellenistic Age, but they hardly appear in literary texts. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that object clitic doubling existed in its modern form in the oldest texts that use the demotic language (from the twelfth century onwards), but that it was avoided by scribes who wanted to maintain strict standards. This popular, or even vulgar, character seems to be due to the essentially redundant nature of clitic doubling in Greek: it concerns only topics, i.e., given information, already marked for its “givenness” by specific devices, such as the anteposed definite article. It does not depend on object agreement marking through clitic doubling. In the period under study (up to ca 1600), clitic doubling is facultative, and even if the clitics cannot be separated from their verb, their position with respect to the verb (pre- or postverbal) is determined by a combination of syntactic and pragmatic factors. They are certainly not yet to be considered as verbal morphemes.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction: Clitic doubling, core syntax and the interfaces 1
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Part I. Clitic doubling within the Balkan Continuum: Rise and spread
- 1. Balkan object reduplication in areal and dialectological perspective 35
- 2. Towards grammaticalization of clitic doubling: Clitic doubling in Macedonian and neighbouring languages 65
- 3. The genesis of clitic doubling from Ancient to Medieval Greek 89
- 4. Clitic doubling and Old Bulgarian 105
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Part II. Discourse functional properties of clitic doubling
- 5. Romanian clitic doubling: A view from pragmatics-semantics and diachrony 135
- 6. Clitic doubling from Ancient to Asia Minor Greek 165
- 7. Object clitic doubling constructions and topicality in Bulgarian 203
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Part III. Morpho-syntactic properties and modelling of clitic doubling
- 8. Clitic doubling, agreement and information structure: The case of Albanian 227
- 9. Clitic reduplication constructions in Bulgarian 257
- 10. Clitic doubling, complex heads and interarboreal operations 289
- 11. Rethinking the Clitic Doubling parameter: The inverse correlation between clitic doubling and participle agreement 321
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Part IV. Clitic doubling within the DP
- 12. Romanian possessive clitics revisited 361
- 13. Possessive clitics in the DP: Doubling or dislocation? 389
- Name index 435
- Language index 437
- Subject index 439
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction: Clitic doubling, core syntax and the interfaces 1
-
Part I. Clitic doubling within the Balkan Continuum: Rise and spread
- 1. Balkan object reduplication in areal and dialectological perspective 35
- 2. Towards grammaticalization of clitic doubling: Clitic doubling in Macedonian and neighbouring languages 65
- 3. The genesis of clitic doubling from Ancient to Medieval Greek 89
- 4. Clitic doubling and Old Bulgarian 105
-
Part II. Discourse functional properties of clitic doubling
- 5. Romanian clitic doubling: A view from pragmatics-semantics and diachrony 135
- 6. Clitic doubling from Ancient to Asia Minor Greek 165
- 7. Object clitic doubling constructions and topicality in Bulgarian 203
-
Part III. Morpho-syntactic properties and modelling of clitic doubling
- 8. Clitic doubling, agreement and information structure: The case of Albanian 227
- 9. Clitic reduplication constructions in Bulgarian 257
- 10. Clitic doubling, complex heads and interarboreal operations 289
- 11. Rethinking the Clitic Doubling parameter: The inverse correlation between clitic doubling and participle agreement 321
-
Part IV. Clitic doubling within the DP
- 12. Romanian possessive clitics revisited 361
- 13. Possessive clitics in the DP: Doubling or dislocation? 389
- Name index 435
- Language index 437
- Subject index 439
