The greek infinitive in variable deliberative, principally dependent questions: an interpretation in terms of naturalness theory
In the present paper I investigate the use of the infinitive in dependent delibera tive clauses in Greek, a phenomenon occurring in several (modern) languages, cf. Slovene Nisem vedel, kaj storiti. 'I didn't know what to do?', English I didn't know what to do., German Was tun?...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
2004-12-01
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| Series: | Linguistica |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/linguistica/article/view/4090 |
| Summary: | In the present paper I investigate the use of the infinitive in dependent delibera tive clauses in Greek, a phenomenon occurring in several (modern) languages, cf. Slovene Nisem vedel, kaj storiti. 'I didn't know what to do?', English I didn't know what to do., German Was tun? 'What to do?'l. In the first part I present the development of deliberative infinitive clauses in Post-Classical Greek with a special emphasis on the use of this form in two Early Byzantine prose writings (in Pratum Spirituale and in Vita Theodori Syceotae, both belonging to the 6th;7th century AD), where some peculiarities are observed. In the second part an attempt is made to interpret the basic characteristics of the Greek infinitive in dependent deliberative clauses from the perspective of Naturalness Theory.
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| ISSN: | 0024-3922 2350-420X |