Support-verb constructions in the corpora of Greek: Between lexicon and grammar?

Abstract

Synopsis:

This volume brings together corpora that span more than 3,000 years of the history of the Greek language, from Ittzés' chapter on the proto-language to Giouli's chapter on the modern language. The authors take wider or narrower approaches with regard to the form and function of the type of construction that they include in the group of support-verb constructions: while all would agree that English to take initiative is a support-verb construction, opinions differ on English to take wing. The chapters reflect a fascinating diversity of approaches to support-verb constructions, including Natural Language Processing, Comparative Philology, New Testament Exegesis, Coptology, and General Linguistics. The volume is structured along the three interfaces that support-verb constructions sit on, the syntax-lexicon, the syntax-semantics, and the syntax-pragmatics interfaces. We finish with four concrete avenues for further research. Faced with the diversity of approaches and the magnitude of disagreements arising from them when working with as internally diverse a group of constructions as support-verb constructions, we strive for in varietate unitas.