Chapter 13
Ancient Greek adversative particles in contrast
Ancient Greek is a language which abounds in discourse particles showing a wide range of functions. This paper aims at analyzing the semantic differences between the most frequent adversative particles in Greek: allá, kaítoi, méntoi and mé:n. Drawing on a number of functionally and cognitively-oriented theoretical approaches to pragmatics, I will argue that these particles can best be analyzed as polysemous networks of semantic extensions resulting from the semanticization of contextually evoked pragmatic inferences. I will also argue that the semantic distinction between the various adversative particles can be insightfully described in terms of discourse-pragmatic notions such as common ground, topos, discourse act and move.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction and theoretical background
- 2.A typology of adversative relations
- 3.
Allá
- 4.
Méntoi
- 5.
Kaítoi
-
6.
Mé:n
- 7.Conclusions
-
Notes
-
References
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