Subordination and Insubordination in Post-Classical Greek

From Syntax to Context

Klaas Bentein, Eleonora Cattafi, Ezra la Roi

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783111180588
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: History

This volume presents the first comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of (in)subordination in Post-Classical Greek (III BCE – VI AD) from a modern linguistic perspective.

The contributions provide new findings into the syntax of the Post-Classical Greek sentence along four main dimensions. First, several studies investigate the diachrony of subordinate and insubordinate clause structures, both in Post-Classical Greek and the history of Greek more generally. Second, contributions demarcate the influence of language contact on the continuity and change of clausal strategies. Third, the diverse syntactic and pragmatic factors involved in different types of finite and non-finite subordination are detailed. Fourth, the phenomenon of subordination as found in specific text types and collections is contextualized, incorporating insights from historical sociolinguistics.

This book aims to be a reference point not only to Greek scholars working on the Post-classical period and the specific corpora addressed in the volume, but also to general linguists interested in the syntax of (in)subordination and the application of modern linguistic approaches to historical languages.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Frontmatter
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Unraveling Post-Classical (In)Subordination: From Syntax to Context
• FYI: Predicate Insubordination with ἵνα in Documentary Post-Classical Greek
• Voice, Actionality, and Argument Structure of ‘Εἶναι + Participle’ Periphrases in Post-Classical Greek
• The Syntax and Pragmatics of the Directive Downtoner καλῶς ποιέω in Post-Classical Greek (I–IV CE)
• The Ups and Downs, Ins and Outs of Subordination in the History of Greek
• Reevaluating Parataxis in the Septuagint
• Lost (and Gained) in Translation: Syntactic Features of Relative Clauses in Septuagint Greek
• Continuity and Change in the Syntax of δίδωμι in Septuagint Greek
• Correlating Morphosyntactic Stability, Change, Register and Context of Use in Post-Classical Greek: The Case of Insubordinate Wishes
• The Accessibility Hierarchy in Post-Classical Greek between Syntax and Sociolinguistics
• Going Nominal? The Ancient Greek Articular Infinitive between Syntax and Context
• Subordination and Competing Constructions in Greek Acts of Christian Martyrs: A Case Study
• Atticist Syntax: Prescriptive Norms on the Infinitival Complementation of μέλλω
• Index Nominum
• Index Rerum
• Index of Sources