Tense, aspect, and adverbials in Modern Greek
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 Homstein (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
Xydopoulos, Georgios I.
Linguistics
Tense, aspect, and adverbials in Modern Greek. 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 Homstein (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
tense_aspect adverbial modern_greek aim_provide syntactic_analysis tense_aspect system class adverbial modern_greek within minimalist programme chomsky provide summary minimalist programme linguistic_theory develop chomsky discuss word_order adopt work hypothesis structure clause language specifically follow claim vso basic order svo kind derived order minimalist term assume verb move overtly mood head licensing vso subject occupy canonical position spec minimalist term svo spec position due theme feature make brief_review semantic_theory tense literature consider neo model detail assumption representations relations suggest former primary latter secondary temporal_relation moreover adopt neo