Reflexive and Reciprocal Constructions in Modern Greek

Abstract

This paper examines the various constructions that convey reflexivity and reciprocity in Modern Greek. Modern Greek reflexive and reciprocal constructions are characterized by a considerable degree of overlap between them, in the sense that they are structurally parallel to each other. More concretely, both reflexives and reciprocals in the language can be lexicalized through the addition of the non-active suffix -mai to a transitive verb; moreover, reflexivity and reciprocity can be syntactically realized by means of an active transitive verb followed by a pronominal that is referentially bound to an antecedent. Lastly, pronoun incorporation to a –mai verb constitutes another way of expressing reflexivity and reciprocity in the language, while in certain cases reflexivity/ reciprocity is inherently encoded in the semantics of individual verb predicates. The analysis is implemented within Role-andReference Grammar; the richness of the data, however, dictates the need for the enrichment of the framework. Specifically, the traditional Role-and-Reference Grammar organization structure is extended through the postulation of additional steps to the semantics-to-syntax derivational process and through the introduction of a feature-based analysis at the semantic level of representation. What is aimed in this way is a more thorough and effective analysis of the constructions under examination. 1. MG Reflexives and Reciprocals: Description Reflexive and reciprocal constructions are closely correlated in Modern Greek (henceforth MG). At a semantic level, the surface subject of both reflexives and reciprocals in MG encodes not only agentivity, but also affectedness by itself (in the case of reflexives) or by a partner (in the case of reciprocals), which is, in essence, a crosslinguistic property of reflexive and reciprocal subjects (Shibatani 1985, pp.840-841). Apart from the semantic correlation between reflexives and reciprocals in MG, it should be noted that there is also a considerable degree of syntactic overlap between them. Taking into account that a variety of structures can give rise to a reflexive or a reciprocal reading in MG, it will be illustrated that reflexive structures parallel reciprocal structures in their formation; besides, it is worth noting that reflexivity and reciprocity can be expressed under certain circumstances through the use of the same structure, thus giving rise to a potentially ambiguous interpretation. The discussion will firstly turn to an examination of MG reflexives. ∗ The contents of this paper are part of my M.Phil. in Linguistics thesis, which was submitted on 29 August 2005 to the Centre for Language and Communication Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Brian Nolan for all his input, support and inspiration; his insightful comments and supportive feedback have been of great assistance to me in the writing of my thesis, making him an invaluable guide throughout. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Ianthi Tsimpli for generously providing me with a wealth of intuition on the Modern Greek data. All shortcomings remain, of course, my own responsibility.