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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Syntax The predominant word order in Greek is SVO (Subject-Verb-Object), but word order is quite freely variable, with VSO and other orders as frequent alternatives. Within the noun phrase, adjectives precede the noun, while possessors follow it, with the opposite order being possible as a marked alternative in both cases. Greek is a Pro-drop Language , i.e. subjects are typically not overtly expressed whenever they are inferrable from context. Whereas the word order of the major phrasal clause elements within the clause is fairly free, certain grammatical elements are attracted to the verb as Clitic s, forming a rigidly ordered group together with it. This applies particularly to unstressed object pronouns, negation particles, the tense particle ''θα,'' and the subjunctive particle ''να.'' Likewise, possessive pronouns are enclitic to the nouns they modify. Morphology Greek is still a strongly Inflectional language, although the richness of inflectional categories of Ancient Greek has been reduced over time. Nouns, adjectives and verbs are each divided into several inflectional classes (declination classes and conjugation classes), which have different sets of endings. In the nominals, the ancient inflectional system is well preserved, with the exception of the loss of one case, the Dative , and the restructuring of several of the inflectional classes. In the verbal system, the loss of Synthetic inflectional categories is somewhat greater, and several new Analytic constructions have evolved instead. Characteristics of the Balkan linguistic union Several syntactic properties of Greek are characteristics shared with several other Balkan languages, with which Greek forms the so-called Balkan Linguistic Union . Among these characteristics are:
THE NOMINAL SYSTEM The Greek nominal system distinguishes two Numbers (Singular and '''Plural'''), three Genders ('''Masculine''', '''Feminine''' and '''Neuter'''), and four Cases ('''Nominative''', '''Genitive''', '''Accusative''' and '''Vocative'''). As in many Indo-European languages, grammatical gender assignment to nouns is largely arbitrary and need not coincide with natural sex. Case, number and gender are marked on the noun as well as on articles and adjectives modifying it. While there are four cases, there is a great degree of syncretism between case forms within most paradigms, and only one class of Masculine nouns actually has four distinct forms for the four cases. Article There are two Articles in Demotic Greek, the definite and the indefinite. They are both Inflected by Gender , Case and Number . The article agrees in number, gender and case with the noun it modifies. The definite article The definite article is used more frequently in Greek than in English. It is used:
The indefinite article The indefinite article in Greek is identical with the numeral for one. It is not used in Greek as often as in English because it specifically expresses the concept of "one". It is omitted:
Nouns In Demotic Greek, Noun s are Inflected by Case and Number . There are three genders in Greek: masculine, feminine and neuter. Masculine nouns The table shows three of the most frequent declension classes. There are some other, minor ones. Historically, the class in -ος corresponds to the Ancient Greek o-Declension. The other classes represent a conflation of several different sources. Groups 2 and 3 each have subclasses of so-called ''anisosyllabic'' nouns, where the Plural is formed with the addition of a stem extension ''-αδ-'' and ''-ηδ-'', respectively. Examples are for Group 2a: ''παππάς, παππάδες'' ('priest'), and for Group 3a: ''μανάβης, μανάβηδες'' ('greengrocer'). Feminine nouns Groups 1-2 in the table below (with certain sub-groups not shown) are by far the most frequent ones. They both correspond historically to the Ancient Greek a-Declension. Group 3 corresponds to Ancient Greek nouns in -ις. Its singular forms have been adapted to those of Group 2, while its plural forms have retained the ancient pattern. The ancient forms of the Genitive Singular (πόλεως) are also still sometimes found as a stylistic variant. Group 4 corresponds to the Ancient Greek feminine o-Declension and is today only found in a few words from the learned tradition. Except for Group 4, all classes have identical forms in the Nominative, Accusative and Vocative. Neuter nouns All neuter nouns have identical forms across the Nominative, Accusative and Vocative. In the table below, Groups 1-2 are by far the most common ones; Groups 3-4 are found in words from the learned tradition. Adjectives Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, case and number. Therefore, each adjective has a threefold declension paradigm. Adjectives show agreement both when they are used as attributes (''ο καλός φίλος'', 'the good friend') and when they are used as predicates (''ο φίλος είναι καλός'', 'the friend is good'). The vast majority of adjectives take forms in ''-ος'' in the Masculine (same as Masculine Group 1 nouns above), ''-ο'' in the Neuter (same as Neuter Group 1 nouns above), and either ''-η, -α,'' or ''-ια'' in the Feminine (same as Feminine Group 1/2 nouns above). Again, there are some other, minor groups and sub-classes. Agreement is with the abstract gender of the noun, not with the actual declension class of the noun, which means that the concrete endings occurring in any pair of noun and adjective may be quite different from each other, depending on the classes involved (e.g. ''η καλή μέθοδος'' 'the good method'; ''τα νέα λάθη'' 'the new errors'). The table below shows the forms for ''νέος, -α, -ο'' ('new'), ''καλός, -η, -ο'' ('good'), and ''γλυκός, -ιά, -ό'' ('sweet'). Minor adjective classes include the following:
Personal pronouns There are strong (stressed, free) and weak (unstressed, clitic) personal pronouns. Nominative pronouns are always strong and are used as subjects only when special emphasis is intended, since unstressed subjects recoverable from context are not overtly expressed anyway. Genitive (possessive) pronouns are used in their weak forms as pre-verbal clitics to express indirect objects (e.g. ''του μίλησα'', 'I talked to him'), and as a post-nominal clitic to express possession (e.g. ''οι φίλοι του'', 'his friends'). The strong genitive forms are relatively rare and used only for special emphasis (e.g. ''αυτουνού οι φίλοι,'' 'his friends'); often they are doubled by the weak forms (e.g. ''αυτουνού του μίλησα,'' 'him I talked to'). An alternative way of giving emphasis to a possessive pronoun is propping it up with the stressed adjective ''δικός'' ('own') (e.g. ''οι δικοί του φίλοι,'' 'his friends'). Accusative pronouns exist both in a weak and a strong form. The weak form is used as a pre-verbal clitic (e.g. ''τον είδα'', 'I saw him'). 3rd-Person pronouns have separate forms for the three genders; those of the 1st and 2nd Person do not. The weak 3rd-Person forms are similar to the corresponding forms of the Definite Article. The strong 3rd-Person forms function simultaneously as generic demonstratives ('this, that'). Besides ''αυτός'' as a generic demonstrative, there are also the more specific spatial demonstrative pronouns ''τούτος, -η, -ο'' ('this here') and ''εκείνος, -η, -ο'' ('that there'). PREPOSITIONS In Demotic Greek prepositions require the accusative case: από (from), για (for), με (with), μετά (after), χωρίς (without), ως (as) and σε (to, in or at). The preposition σε is usually combined with the definite article (e.g στο (σε + το) and στη (σε + τη)) and declines with the noun. Prepositions can be preceded by adverbs with which they can form new compound prepositions, e.g. πάνω σε (on), κάτω από (underneath), πλαϊ σε (beside) etc. CONJUNCTIONS There are two types of conjunctions in Demotic Greek, co-ordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Co-ordinating conjunctions connect sentences, clauses, phases and words of equal rank, the most common ones being: και (and), αλλά (but), ή (or), ή... ή or μήτε... μήτε (either... or), ούτε... ούτε (neither... nor). Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependant clauses, the most common ones being: όταν (when), αφού (when, since), ενώ (while), πως or ότι (that), επειδή, γιατί or διότι (because), εάν, αν, σαν or άμα (if), πριν or προτού (before), ύστερα (after), μόλις (just), καθώς or όπως (as), ώστε (so that), για να or να (in order to). THE VERB Greek verb morphology is structured around a basic 2-by-2 contrast of two function, where they are typically preceded by the particle ''να'' or by one of a set of subordinating Conjunctions . There are also two Imperative s, one for each aspect, and one invariable form, called either a Gerund or a Participle by different authors, which is formed from the Present stem. In addition to these basic forms, Greek also has several Periphrastic verb constructions. There is a system of Perfect forms, which are formed by an inflected form of the Auxiliary Verb ''έχω'' ('have') and an invariant verb form derived from the Perfective stem, historically a reflex of the old Aorist Infinitive. This occurs both as a Past Perfect (Pluperfect) and as a Present Perfect. In addition, all the basic forms can be combined with the Future particle ''θα'' (historically derived from the verb ''θέλω'', 'want'). Combined with the Non-Past forms, this creates an Imperfective and a Perfective Future. Combined with the Imperfective Past it is used as a Conditional , and with the Perfective Past as an Inferential . The tables below exemplify one large inflectional class of verbs, the 1st Conjugation. 1st Conjugation 2nd Conjugation Below are the corresponding forms of two subtypes of another class, the 2nd Conjugation. Only the basic forms are given; the periphrastic combinations are formed as shown above. While the person-number endings are quite regular across all verbs within each of these classes, the formation of the two basic stems for each verb displays a lot of irregularity and can follow any of a large number of idiosyncratic patterns. Grammatical voice Greek has a morphological contrast between two and Mediopassive . The Mediopassive has several functions:
''Be'' and ''have'' The verbs ''είμαι'' ('be') and ''έχω'' ('have') are irregular and defective, as they both lack the aspectual contrast. The forms of ''είμαι'' are given below; for those of ''έχω'' see the table of the Perfect forms above. NOTES |
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