Cover not available
Part of
Historical Linguistics 2015: Selected papers from the 22nd International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Naples, 27-31 July 2015
Edited by Michela Cennamo and Claudia Fabrizio
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 348] 2019
► pp. 271–286

Chapter 13
State representation and dynamic processes in Homeric Greek

The aorist in - in Homeric Greek

We aim to assess the relationship between different Indo-European strategies for encoding the representation of a subject’s state and focus on data from Homeric poems. Specifically, we propose an explanation for the function and the distribution of the aorist in –ην that (1) accounts for its various occurrences within a unitary model, (2) sheds new light on the co-existence of stative and dynamic components in this formation, (3) allows us to solve the supposed aporia whereby a stative marker has been integrated into the aorist system. Moreover, we investigate the relationship between the aorist in –ην and two major categories that entail a state predicate, that is, the old perfect and the middle voice, in order to clarify their distinctive functions and mutual distribution.
Keywords: state representation, intransitivity, causative/anticausative alternation, aorist, perfect, middle, ancient Greek
Article outline
  • 1.State representation and intransitive values of the aorist in –ην: Open questions
  • 2.Function and distribution of the aorist in –ην and its relationship with middle and perfect
    • 2.1The anticausative function of the aorist in –ην
    • 2.2Aorist in –ην and media tantum verbs
    • 2.3Aorist in –ην, middle and perfect
  • 3.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Translations
Published online: 10 September 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.348.13rom
References (87)
References
Alexiadou, Artemis, Elena Anagnostopoulou & Martin Everaert (eds.). 2004. The Unaccusativity puzzle. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Allan, Rutger. 2003. The middle voice in Ancient Greek. A study of polysemy. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Ameka, Felix K. & James Essegbey. 2007, CUT and BREAK verbs and the causative/inchoative alternation in Ewe. Cognitive Linguistics 18:2. 241–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benedetti, Marina. 2002. Radici, morfemi nominali e verbali: alla ricerca dell’inaccusativita indoeuropea. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 87. 20–45.Google Scholar
. 2005. Dispersioni formali del medio indoeuropeo. In Lidia Costamagna & Stefania Grannini (eds.), Acquisizione e mutamento di categorie linguistiche, 95–119. Roma: Il Calamo.Google Scholar
Benveniste, Émile 1966. Actif et moyen dans le verbe, in Problèmes de linguistique générale. I. Paris, Gallimard, 168–175.Google Scholar
Bertinetto, Pier Marco 1986. Tempo, aspetto e azione nel verbo italiano. Firenze: Accademia della Crusca.Google Scholar
Bloch, Alfred. 1940. Zur Geschichte einiger suppletiver Verba im Griechischen (Diss. Basel). Basel: Waldstein.Google Scholar
Chantraine, Pierre. 1927. Histoire du parfait grec, I. Paris: Champion.Google Scholar
. 1942. Grammaire Homérique, I. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
. 1991 [1945]. Morphologie historique du grec. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
. DELG. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque (repr.). Paris: Klincksieck.
Chierchia, Gennaro. 2004. A semantics for unaccusatives and its syntactic consequences. In Artemis Alexiadou, Elena Anagnostopoulou & Martin Everaert (eds.), etc. The Unaccusativity Puzzle, 22–59. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delbrück, Berthold. 1897. Vergleichende Syntax der indogermanischen Sprachen, II. Strasbourg: Trübner.Google Scholar
Di Giovine, Paolo 1990 – 1996. Studio sul perfetto indoeuropeo, I-II-III. Roma: il Calamo.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W. & Alexandra, Y. Aikhenvald 2000. Changing valency. Case studies in transitivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dowty, David R. 1979. Word meaning and Montague grammar. Dordrecht: Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fici Giusti, Francesca 1994. Il passivo nelle lingue slave. Tipologia e semantica. Milano: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Garcia Ramon, Jose Luis. 2014, From aktionsart to aspect and voice: on the morphosyntax of the Greek aorists with -η- and -θη-. In Bartolotta, Anna Maria Bartolotta (ed.), The Greek Verb. Morphology, Syntax and Semantics. Proceedings of the 8th Internationa meeting on Greek Linguistics (Agrigento 1–3 October 2009), 149–182. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters.Google Scholar
Gehring, August. 1970 [1891]. Index Homericus mit Appendix Hymnorum vocabula continens / eingeleitet, durchgesehen und erweitert von Ulrich Fleischer. New York: G. Olms.Google Scholar
Gianollo, Chiara. 2010. I verbi deponenti latini e l’unita della flessione in -r. Incontri Triestini di Filologia Classica 8 (2008–2009). 23–49. Trieste: Edizioni Universita di Trieste.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 1987. Transitivity alternation of the anticausative type. Koln: Institut fur Sprachwissenschaft, Arbeitspapier, 5 (n.F.).Google Scholar
. 1990. The grammaticization of Passive Morphology. Studies in Language 14. 25–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1993. More on the typology of inchoative/causative verb alternations. In Bernard Comrie & Maria Polinsky (eds.), Causatives and Transitivity, 87–120. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, Karl. 1967. Der Injunktiv im Veda. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. & Sandra, A. Thompson 1980. Transitivity in grammar and discourse. Language 56. 251–299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Humbert, Jean. 1993 [1945]. Syntaxe Grecque. Paris: Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Jasanoff, Jay. 1978. Stative and Middle in Indo-European. Innsbruck: Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Sprach-wissenschaft.Google Scholar
. 2002–3. “Stative” *ē revisited. Die Sprache 43:2. 127–70.Google Scholar
Kemmer, Suzanne. 1993. The middle voice.. Amsterdam: John Benjamin. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kulikov, Leonid. 1998. Passive, anticausative and classification of verbs: the case of Vedic. In Leonid Kulikov & Heinz Vater (eds), Typology of verbal categories: papers presented to Vladimir Nedjalkov on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 139–153. Tubingen: Niemeyer.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuryłowicz, Jerzy 1932. Les désinences moyennes de l’Indo-européen et du Hittite. Bullettin del la societé linguistique 33. 1–4.Google Scholar
Lazzeroni, Romano. 1977. Fra glottogonia e storia: ingiuntivo, aumento e lingua poetica indoeuropea. Studi e Saggi Linguistici 17. 1–30.Google Scholar
. 1984. La formazione del sistema dei tempi e degli aspetti nel verbo sanscrito. Atti del Sodalizio Glottologico Milanese 24. 55–73.Google Scholar
. 1990. La diatesi come categoria linguistica. Studio sul medio indoeuropeo. Studi e Saggi Linguistici 30. 1–22.Google Scholar
. 1993, Arcaismi e innvazioni nel sistema verbale vedico. Studi e Saggi Linguistici 33. 11–23.Google Scholar
. 2004. Inaccusatività indoeuropea e alternanza causativa vedica. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 89:2. 139–164.Google Scholar
. 2008, Alternanza causativa e classi di presente in vedico: contributo alla soluzione dell’“enigma” di Kuiper. Indologica 20, To Ya. Elizarenkova Memorial Volume, Book I: 263–272.Google Scholar
. 2014. L’attuazione di un mutamento: perfetto e medio in alcune lingue indoeuropee. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 99:2. 129–154.Google Scholar
Levin, Beth & Malka Rappaport Hovav. 1995. Unaccusativity. At the Syntax, Lexical Semantics Interface. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Magni, Elisabetta. 2008. Continuità e contiguità nelle categorie verbali: le forme in -θ- in Greco. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 93:2. 171–225.Google Scholar
William, W., James, Riddle & David, B. Monro 1886. Commentary on the Odyssey . In Homer’s Odyssey, Oxford: Clarendon Press (1886–1901).Google Scholar
Moreno Cabrera, Juan Carlos 1985. Anticausatives. A typological sketch. Chicago Linguistic Society 21. 172–181.Google Scholar
Nass, Ashild 2007. Prototypical Transitivity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. & G. G. Sil’nickij. 1969. Tipologija morfologičeskogo i leksičeskogo kauzativov. In Xolodovič, Alexander A. (ed.), Tipologija kauzativnyx konstrukcij. Morfologičeskij kauzativ, 20–50. Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. & Galina, A. Otaina 1988. Resultative and Continuative in Nivkh. In Vladimir P., Nedjalkov (ed.), Typology of resultative Constructions, 135–166. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neu, Erich. 1968. Interpretation der hethitischen mediopassiven Verbalformen (StBoT Wiesbaden: Harassowitz. /Das hethitische Mediopassiv und seine indogermanischen Grundlagen (StBoT 6). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Parsons, Terry. 1990. Events in the Semantics of English: A Study in Subatomic Semantics. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Peters, Martin. 2004. Zur Herkunft des griechischen -thē- Aoristes. In Thomas Krisch & Thomas Lindner & Ulrich Muller (eds.), Analecta homini universali dicata. Festschrift für Oswald Panagl zum 65. Geburtstag, 171–185. Stuttgart: Heinz.Google Scholar
Piñon, Christopher 2001. Modelling the causative-inchoative alternation. Linguistische Artbeitsberichte 76. 273–293.Google Scholar
Prévot, André 1935. L’aoriste grec en -θην. Paris: Champion.Google Scholar
Risch, Ernst. 1937. Wortbildung der homerischen Sprache, Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Rix, Helmut. Liv (Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben). Wiesbaden: Reichert
Romagno, Domenica. 2002. Diatesi indoeuropea e verbi di movimento greci: alcune considerazioni sull’intransitività. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 87. 163–174.Google Scholar
. 2003. Azionalità e transitività. Il caso dei preverbi latini, Archivio Glottologico Italiano 88. 156–170.Google Scholar
. 2004. Ancora su preverbazione e sistemi verbali. Il caso dei preverbi greci, Archivio Glottologico Italiano 89.166–179.Google Scholar
. 2005. Il perfetto omerico. Diatesi azionalità e ruoli tematici, Milano: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
. 2006. Gradiente di transitività e codifica dell’oggetto. Dall’accusativo preposizionale al partitivo, Archivio Glottologico Italiano 91. 203–222.Google Scholar
. 2008. Applicative and causative: some further reflections upon verbal prefixation in Greek and Latin, Archivio Glottologico Italiano 93. 80–88.Google Scholar
. 2010. Anticausativi, passivi, riflessivi: considerazioni sul medio oppositivo. In Ignazio Putzu, Giulio Paulis, Gianfranco Nieddu & Pierluigi Cuzzolin (eds.). La morfologia del greco fra tipologia e diacronia, 430–441. Milano, Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
. 2014. The aorist in -ην in Homeric Greek: at the Morphosyntax/Semantics Interface. A thorough analysis of Iliad and Odyssey. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 99. 155–186.Google Scholar
Ruiperez, Martin S. 1954. Estructura des sistema de aspectos y tiempos del verbo griego antiguo: analisis funcional sincronico. Salamanca: Colegio Trilingue de la Universidad.Google Scholar
Schwyzer, Eduard. 1959. Griechische Grammatik I. Münich: Beck.Google Scholar
Schwyzer, Eduard & A. Debrunner 1950. Griechische Grammatik, 3 Vols. Münich: Beck.Google Scholar
Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1985. Passives and Related Constructions: a Prototype Analysis. Language 61. 821–848.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006. On the conceptual framework for voice phenomena. Linguistics 44. 217–269.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sihler, Andrew L. 1995. New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sorace, Antonella. 1995. Acquiring linking rules and argument structures in a second language. The unaccusative/unergative distinction. In Lynn Eubank, Larry Selinker & Michael Sherwood Smith (eds.), The Current State of Interlanguage. Amsterdam: John Benjamin.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2000. Gradients in auxiliary selection with intransitive verbs. Language 76. 859–890. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011. Gradience in Spit Intransitivity: the End of the Unaccusative Hypothesis?. Archivio Glottologico Italiano 96. 67–86.Google Scholar
Stang, Christian S. 1932. Perfektum und Medium. Norsk tidsskrift for sprogvidenskap 6. 29–39.Google Scholar
Tomasello, Michael. & Elizabeth Bates (eds.) 2001. Language development: The essential readings. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tronci, Liana. 2005. Gli aoristi in -θη-: uno studio sulla morfosintassi verbale del greco antico. Perugia: Guerra.Google Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D., Jr. 1990. Semantic parameters of split intransitivity. Language 66. 221–260. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001. An Introduction to Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge Unversity Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D., Jr. 2005. Exploring the syntax-semantics interface. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CrossRef DOI logo with hyperlink to permanent DOI
. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D., Jr. & La Polla, Randy J. 1997. Syntax: structure, meaning & function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vendler, Zeno. 1967. Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Wackernagel, Jacob. 1904. Studien zum griechischen Perfektum. Kleine Schriften II: 1000–1021. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
. 1926. Vorlesungen über Syntax I. Basilea: Birkhäuser & Cie.Google Scholar
Watkins, Calvert. 1969. Indogermanische Grammatik, III/1. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar
Translations
(Butler) = Butler, Samuel (1898), Homer. The Iliad of Homer. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. New York and Bombay: Longmans 1898.Google Scholar
= Butler, Samuel (1900) Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler, Based on public domain edition, (revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy). Londoni: A.C. Fifield.Google Scholar
(Murray) = Murray, Augustus Taber (1919) Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray. Cambridge (MA)/London): Harvard University Press & William Heinemann.Google Scholar
= Murray, Augustus Taber (1924) Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray. Cambridge (MA)/London): Harvard University Press & William Heinemann.Google Scholar
(Verity) = Verity, Anthony (2011), The Iliad / Homer. Translated by Anthony Verity. New York: OUP.Google Scholar
(Dawe) = Dawe, Roger D. (1993), The Odyssey: Translation and analysis. Lewes, Sussex: The Book Guild.Google Scholar