Polysemous Particles in Ancient Greek

A Study with Special Reference to μήν and δή

Series: 

Author:
Kees Thijs
Anyone reading an Ancient Greek text will notice the abundance of pragmatic particles (e.g. ἄρα, γάρ, γε, δέ, δή, μέν, μήν, οὖν), a much-debated and challenging class of expressions. What are their semantic contributions, and how should we account for their notorious polyfunctionality? In this book, Kees Thijs provides a state of the art of modern particle theory, which he then applies to two of the most versatile Greek particles, μήν and δή. Using a diachronically oriented polysemy approach and a large-scale, varied research corpus, Thijs offers a new, unified account that significantly improves on both traditional handbooks (e.g. Denniston) and more recent particle studies.
Copyright Year:
2025
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ISBN:
978-90-04-71501-1
Publication:
24 Feb 2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-71498-4
Publication:
06 Mar 2025
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Kees Thijs (PhD 2021) is a lecturer in logic and Ancient Greek at Radboud University Nijmegen. His research is at the crossroads of Ancient Greek, linguistics, and philosophy of language, with a focus on pragmatic particles and Greek word order.
Acknowledgements
List of tables and figures
Abbreviations, symbols, and translations

1 General introduction
 1.1 Setting the scene
 1.2 Earlier scholarship
 1.3 Data
 1.4 Methodology
 1.5 Outline of the present study

Part1 Theoretical background



2 Pragmatic particles
 2.1 Introduction
 2.2 Preliminaries on linguistic categorization
 2.3 Particles
 2.4 Pragmatic markers
 2.5 Conclusion

3 Outline of the functional spectrum
 3.1 Introduction
 3.2 Connectives
 3.3 Attitudinal-interactional markers
 3.4 Focus modifiers
 3.5 Intensifiers
 3.6 Markers of non-straightforward communication
 3.7 Conclusion

4 Polyfunctionality and diachronic change
 4.1 Introduction
 4.2 Diachronic change
 4.3 Homonymy, monosemy, and polysemy
 4.4 Methodological reflections
 4.5 Conclusion

5 Position and scope of Greek particles
 5.1 Introduction
 5.2 Greek syntax and word order
 5.3 Prepositives
 5.4 Postpositives
 5.5 Conclusion: the position of particles as linguistic evidence

Part2 Case studies



6 Μήν
 6.1 Setting the scene
 6.2 Earlier accounts
 6.3 Μήν as an attitudinal-interactional particle
 6.4 Μήν as a discourse-connective particle
 6.5 Conclusion

7 Δή
 7.1 Setting the scene
 7.2 Earlier accounts
 7.3 Δή as an attitudinal-interactional particle
 7.4 Δή as a discourse-connective particle
 7.5 Δή as a phrasal modifier
 7.6 Conclusion

8 General conclusion
 8.1 Summary overview
 8.2 Suggestions for further research

Appendix A: Quantitative data
Bibliography
Index Locorum
This book will be of immediate interest for classical scholars and philologists, as well as general linguists engaged with the semantics-pragmatics interface, language typology, or pragmatic particles.
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