Faculty of Philology

Eleni Panaretou (Α-Ι), Amalia Mozer (Κ-Ξ), Spyridoula Varlokosta (Ο-Ω)

This lecture course provides a general introduction to Linguistics for first-year students of the Faculty of Philology. Given that Linguistics is not one of the subjects taught at school, the course aims at the acquaintance of students with the most basic topics and principles of the discipline. It therefore starts with the distinction between language and other communication systems which exist in the animal kingdom and goes on to explain the interest of Linguists for the two main facets of language: its role as a communication tool and its structure as a complex system produced by the human mind. The students are subsequently acquainted with the levels of linguistic structure (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics), with sociolinguistic issues (variation, style and register, language contact), with language change, with psycho- and neurolinguistic topics, with the use of computers for linguistic analysis, as well as with the areas of Applied Linguistics (first and second/foreign language teaching, language planning, literacy, lexicography).

Ν. Pantelidis (Α-Λ), A. Giannaris (Μ-Ω)
Κ. Kakarikos: in-depth seminar (Α-Ω)

Introduction to Historical-Comparative and Indo-European Linguistics:

• Pre-Linguisticsapproaches to language and language history.
• The Linguistics approach to language history: Theoretical bases and methodology of Historical-Comparative Linguistics (Language Change, external and internal reconstruction, sound laws, the notion of genetic relatedness of languages, language families).
• The Indo-European language family.

History of the Greek language:

•  Periods of the history of Greek.
• Genetic classification, prehistory and early history of Greek: Indo-European, Proto-Greek, the Pre-Greek substrate.
• The dialectal split of early Greek.
• Writing: Pre-alphabetic scripts, the Greek alphabet.
• Mycenaean Greek.
• The Ancient Greek dialects and their use in the Ancient Greek literature.
• The Greek language in Hellenistic and Roman times. The atticistic movement.
• The Greek language in the Medieval and the early modern times.
• The dialects of Modern Greek.
• Modern Greek (18^th-21^st century): The Language Question. Contemporary Greek.

Angelos Lengeris 

The aim of the course is to introduce students to Phonetics and Phonology with an emphasis on the phonetic inventory of Modern Greek. Phonetics is studying the sounds of human speech as natural entities, that is, how they are produced (articulatory phonetics), how they are transmitted as sound waves (acoustic phonetics) and how they are perceived by the listener (auditory phonetics). Phonology studies the sounds of human speech as linguistic units, that is, how they are organized into the language to differentiate the meaning of words. The basic concepts of Phonetics and Phonology are discussed in relation to the Greek language.

G. Markopoulos
Κ. Κakarikos (in-depth seminar)

The course is an introduction to Morphology, the branch of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words and the word formation processes. Particular emphasis is placed on the morphological structure of Modern Greek words as a result of inflectional and derivational processes.

G. Markopoulos
Κ. Κakarikos (in-depth seminar)

The course will examine the synchronic structure of Modern Greek based on the theoretical description and analysis at the linguistic levels of Phonology, Morphology and Semantics with emphasis on vocabulary. At the level of phonological description, the functional role of the phoneme is analyzed together with its distinctive features and the phonological processes that shape its realization in specific morpho-phonological environments. At the level of morphological analysis, emphasis is given in derivation and compounding as necessary functions for the semantic enrichment of the lexicon. At the level of vocabulary, phenomena of internal and external borrowing are described, including translated loan words, reborrowing and neologisms. At the semantic level of the language, the meaning of words and wider linguistic units (phrases-sentences) is examined from a philosophical and from a linguistic point of view based on their semantic relationships and properties.

G. Markopoulos
Κ. Κakarikos (in-depth seminar)

The course will examine the synchronic structure of Modern Greek based on the theoretical description and analysis at the linguistic levels of Phonology, Morphology and Semantics with emphasis on vocabulary. At the level of phonological description, the functional role of the phoneme is analyzed together with its distinctive features and the phonological processes that shape its realization in specific morpho-phonological environments. At the level of morphological analysis, emphasis is given in derivation and compounding as necessary functions for the semantic enrichment of the lexicon. At the level of vocabulary, phenomena of internal and external borrowing are described, including translated loan words, reborrowing and neologisms. At the semantic level of the language, the meaning of words and wider linguistic units (phrases-sentences) is examined from a philosophical and from a linguistic point of view based on their semantic relationships and properties.

V. Spyropoulos

This course involves a systematic description of the syntax of Modern Greek. The main aim of the course is to present a comprehensive descriptive analysis of the core syntactic phenomena of Modern Greek by taking advantage of the recent developments in the linguistic analysis of Modern Greek, while remaining theoretical neutral. The following topics are examined: (a) definition of categories, constituency and phrase structure; (b) the morphosyntactic manifestation of the grammatical categories and their syntactic representation; (c) the types of verbs according to the theta roles they assign and their argument structure; (d) null-subjects; (e) word order and the functional sentence perspective; (f) the pronominal system; (g) embedded clauses: complement clauses, relative clauses, adjunct clauses, etc.  

V. Spyropoulos

This course is an introduction on the theoretical analysis of syntax from the perspective of Generative Theory (Chomsky 1957 et seq.). It describes the way the phrases and the clauses of human language are structured and presents the current methodology of analyzing the syntactic structure of natural languages. This analysis is couched within the Principles & Parameters Theory (Chomsky 1981 et seq.) as this is shaped in the frameworks of Government and Binding (Chomsky 1981 et seq., Chomsky & Lasnik 1993) and the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2993 et seq.). The following topics are examined: (a) the nature of human Language, the Language Faculty and the innateness hypothesis, the Plato’s Problem and the theory of Universal Grammar, the generative mechanism of producing linguistic structures; (b) categories, constituency, basic phrase structure and structural relations; (c) X-bar theory; (d) theta-theory and argument structure; (e) clause structure and the derivation of the sentence; (f) agreement and A-movement; (g) the structure of C, wh-movement and the derivation of questions and relative clauses.

A. Mozer

An introduction to Semantics, this course is designed with the aim of acquainting the students with the field giving a comprehensive account of all the questions dealt with by Semantics. It aims, therefore, for breadth rather than depth of analysis. It is taught in the same semester as Pragmatics, with the goal of establishing a dialogue between the two fields and of highlighting the different approaches to the study of meaning.

Ι. Introduction & brief history of the study of meaning

• from Greek Philosophy to the present day
• (including the split of the field into Semantics and Pragmatics)

II. Lexical Semantics (Word Meaning)

1. Lexeme vs. word
2. Sense and Reference
3. Meaning and Structuralism
   1. Saussure’s valeur and Trier’s Semantic Fields
   2. Sense relations (synonymy, homonymy, polysemy, antonymy, hyponymy, meronymy)
   3. Semantic features (Hjelmslev)
   4. Sapir – Whorf hypothesis
4. Prototype Theory
5. Semantic Change
6. Metaphor and metonymy: Semantics or Pragmatics?

III. Sentence Meaning

1. Utterance - sentence - proposition
2. Propositional content and truth-conditions

IV. Grammatical Meaning

1. Case study: tense and aspect

E. Intzidis

This course is an introduction to the study of pragmatic meaning, i.e. meaning generated in interaction and through the contribution of context. The following topics are examined: (a) context and communication, (b) deixis, (c) speech acts, (d) conversational implicatures, (d) linguistic politeness.

N. Pantelidis

Historical Phonology of Ancient Greek

The phonological structure of Ancient Greek: Phonemic system: vowels, consonants, glides. Suprasegmentals: accent.
iachronic approach to the phonology of Ancient Greek: The prehistory of the phonological system (the phonological system of Indo-European) and its changes from Indo-European to Ancient Greek.
The pronunciation of Ancient Greek: “Erasmian”, Byzantine and Modern Greek pronunciation.
Writing systems and pronunciation in Ancient Greek.

Historical Morphology of Ancient Greek

Synchronic description and diachronic approach to the morphological system of Ancient Greek:
Basic concepts of morphological analysis (with special reference to the Indo-European language family).
Nominal, pronominal and verbal morphology and its evolution from the Indo-European protolanguage to Ancient Greek.

S. Varlokosta

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary fields of Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics. Theoretical and methodological issues are examined with respect to the following topics: (a) production and comprehension of speech and language, (b) acquisition of language in different settings, i.e. first language acquisition, second language acquisition, bilingual/multilingual acquisition, (c) the study of the human mind: innateness and modularity of language, (d) developmental language disorders, (e) acquired and neurodegenerative language disorders with emphasis on post-stroke aphasia and dementia, (f) new methodological directions in the study of the human brain.

E. Intzidis  (Α-Λ)
Ε. Kyritsi (Μ-Ω)
Α. Kontostavlaki, in depth seminar (Α-Ω)

This course helps students to develop the academic skills needed to become competent academic writers. Especially, focus is given on the following topics: writing a bibliography, academic genres, planning and designing of a text, summary writing, paragraph structure, text patterns (general-specific, problem-solution), IMRAD (introduction, methods, results, discussion) structure and lexicogrammatical options of a research article and, finally, drafting/editing skills.

V. Spyropoulos

This is an advanced course in the theory of syntactic analysis of natural languages according to the Principles and Parameters Theory (Chomsky 1981 et seq.). The following topics are examined: (a) binding theory; (b) Case theory, raising, ECM and control; (c) the morphosyntax of the Greek verb system; (d) Split-Infl Hypothesis and functional categories; (e) the DP-hypothesis; (f) V-shells and the structure of the verb phrase; (g) movement and conditions on its application (bounding); (h) ellipsis.  

S. Varlokosta

The course provides a thorough introduction to the field of (First) Language Acquisition with emphasis on both theoretical and methodological issues. The logical problem of language acquisition, the question of nature or nurture, as well as different theoretical approaches to these issues will be discussed. The course also introduces students to the main questions and theories that are examined regarding the acquisition of phonology, morphology and the lexicon, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Last, an overview of the different methodological approaches to data collection in this field is also presented and discussed.   

E. Panaretou

The aim of the course is to introduce students to basic theories within cognitive linguistics according to which language and thought are grounded in basic human experiences and the nature of the human body.

Basic theoretical principles are presented and discussed such as the emphasis on language use, and the encyclopedic view of meaning. An overview of different cognitive "schools" is also given, namely Fillmore's frame semantics theory, Langacker's cognitive grammar, Lakoff ad Johnson’ s metaphor theory and Fauconnier’s mental spaces.

G. Markopoulos

The computational processing of natural language and its applications at the different levels of linguistic analysis are the main subject of the course. Emphasis will be placed on the contribution of linguistics theory in shaping the wider area of ​​Computational Linguistics. Grammatical models and formalisms like finite state automata will be used in the grammatical analysis of natural language with an emphasis on morpho-syntactic example cases of Modern Greek. Furthermore, students will be introduced into logic programming with the Prolog programming language. Prolog is used widely in computational linguistic applications and is based on a non-mathematical description of predicates, rules and logical implications.

D. Goutsos

The course deals with the linguistic analysis of texts (both spoken and written literary and non-literary), as well as the broader dimension of discourse. It aims at familiarizing students with the principles and methods of text analysis in different contexts (e.g. conversation, narrative, media texts, legal and political discourse, advertisements etc). In particular, the following themes will be discussed: principles of communication, relations between text and context, genres (theory and text types), cohesion mechanisms, differences between spoken and written texts, as well as between narrative and non-narrative texts, principles of textuality, text relations and signals. The analysis of discourse will be related to social parameters, as well as teaching applications.

D. Goutsos

The course deals with the linguistic analysis of texts (both spoken and written literary and non-literary), as well as the broader dimension of discourse. It aims at familiarizing students with the principles and methods of text analysis in different contexts (e.g. conversation, narrative, media texts, legal and political discourse, advertisements etc). In particular, the following themes will be discussed: principles of communication, relations between text and context, genres (theory and text types), cohesion mechanisms, differences between spoken and written texts, as well as between narrative and non-narrative texts, principles of textuality, text relations and signals. The analysis of discourse will be related to social parameters, as well as teaching applications.

A. Lengeris

This course presents the basic methodological principles governing the design, execution, analysis/interpretation and presentation of scientific research in experimental linguistics. The aim of the course is therefore to understand the whole process through which a research idea in linguistics can be subjected to experimental investigation using appropriate methodological tools (for example, interview, observation, questionnaire, case study and controlled experiment).

Ε. Kyritsi

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with the characteristics and needs of Second Language (L2) or Foreign Language (FL) learners with atypical development. It specifically focuses on learners with special educational needs. It starts with an overview of official international reports regarding foreign language learning, multilingualism and inclusive education. It then discusses the language and literacy characteristics of these learners and other background factors affecting L2 or FL learning in their case. The course concludes with the implications for teaching and assessing a L2 or FL.

N. Pantelidis

Historical Phonology of Ancient Greek

The phonological structure of Ancient Greek: Phonemic system: vowels, consonants, glides. Suprasegmentals: accent.
iachronic approach to the phonology of Ancient Greek: The prehistory of the phonological system (the phonological system of Indo-European) and its changes from Indo-European to Ancient Greek.
The pronunciation of Ancient Greek: “Erasmian”, Byzantine and Modern Greek pronunciation.
Writing systems and pronunciation in Ancient Greek.

Historical Morphology of Ancient Greek

Synchronic description and diachronic approach to the morphological system of Ancient Greek:
Basic concepts of morphological analysis (with special reference to the Indo-European language family).
Nominal, pronominal and verbal morphology and its evolution from the Indo-European protolanguage to Ancient Greek.

M. Iakovou

The course aims at raising students’ awareness of key terms of Second Language Acquisition research as well as its pedagogic applications in second language classrooms. SLA is a broad and constantly expanding field of research aiming at explaining with a variety of theories, hypotheses and theoretical frameworks how people acquire any additional or second language (L2) after the completion of the first language acquisition. The relationship between SLA findings and language pedagogy in terms of different learners’ profiles, teaching methodologies, learning outcomes and syllabi design will be broadly discussed.

A. Giannaris

This course consists of a survey of theories developed from “Kratylos” to the present day. Particular emphasis is given in the 20th century theoretical schools (Structuralism, Functionalism and Transformational-Generative grammar). The aim is to engage students in understanding their origins, practicing with their methodology in the analysis of the linguistic material and in evaluating the contribution of these theories in the formation of (linguistic) science and of scientific thought generally.

Ε. Kyritsi

he course is an introduction to Clinical Linguistics. It aims to familiarize students with the linguistic characteristics of children with language difficulties. It introduces the field of study of Clinical Linguistics and explores its relationship with other branches of Linguistics and other disciplines. Based on data from the Greek and foreign-language literature, the characteristics of children with language difficulties (language disorder, dyslexia, dyslexia, hearing impairment, autism, Down's syndrome, Williams syndrome), as manifested at various levels of language, are examined. There is also a brief reference to the impact of language difficulties on the individual and the issues that arise for the family and the wider community.

E. Intzidis

Educational Linguistics brings together Language Teaching and Social Science in order to investigate language teaching approaches and their consequences at the educational and social level.

A. Giannaris

The course aims at introducing students to the basic concepts of the theory of language change. The main focus will be on understanding the causes and the mechanisms behind change at all levels of linguistic analysis. Specifically, the class consists of three units; in the initial one, the discussion will be concentrated on change as a basic property of language as well as to the presentation of the core questions usually underlie the field, e.g. why does language change over time, or, why do we study change, how do speakers perceive of change etc? In the second, there will be a detailed presentation of the specific types of language change, e.g. sound (phonetic and phonological) change, morphological, syntactic and semantic change; further, special attention will be paid to the specific mechanisms by which change takes place (e.g. reanalysis, analogy). In the final part, it will be resumed the discussion on the nature of language change (relation to language in general, causes, explanation) in its historical perspective, starting from the 19th century until today (Neogrammarians and the traditional historical-comparative linguistics, Structuralism, sociolinguistic approaches, Generative Grammar, functional-typological approach/ Grammaticalization). Language acquisition and/or usage of language as locus of change, discretion between internal and external (to wit, language contact) factors are to be found in the centre of attention in the last unit of the course.

Δ. Γούτσος

ο μάθημα συζητεί τους κοινωνικούς παράγοντες που εμπλέκονται στη διαμόρφωση και τη χρήση της γλώσσας και δημιουργούν το φαινόμενο της γλωσσικής ποικιλότητας, τις διάφορες δηλαδή ποικιλίες της γλώσσας ανάλογα με τη διαφοροποίηση της κοινωνικής δομής και διεπίδρασης (ποιος, με ποιον, πότε, για ποιο σκοπό μιλάει ή γράφει).  

Παρουσιάζεται η έννοια της κοινωνιογλωσσικής ανισότητας στην υπόσταση, τη δομή και τη χρήση των γλωσσικών ποικιλιών, η σχέση της γλώσσας με το γεωγραφικό περιβάλλον (διάλεκτοι), με τις κοινωνικές διαστάσεις του φύλου, της ηλικίας («γλώσσα των νέων») και της τάξης, μέσα και από ρηξικέλευθες έρευνες μεγάλων κοινωνιογλωσσολόγων, που σημάδεψαν τον κλάδο (Labov, Bernstein, Hymes, Milroy κ.ά.). Επιπλέον, εξετάζεται ο ρόλος της νόρμας (πρότυπης γλώσσας) ως κοινωνικής γλωσσικής ποικιλίας, παράλληλα με την έννοια του γλωσσικού «λάθους», σε σχέση μάλιστα και με τη θεωρία της γλωσσικής μεταβολής. Τέλος, συζητιούνται φαινόμενα γλωσσικής επαφής (μειονοτικές γλώσσες, κρεολές γλώσσες, διγλωσσία και κοινωνική διγλωσσία (diglossia), γλωσσική συρρίκνωση και θάνατος γλωσσών κ.ά). Η έμφαση δίνεται σε ελληνικά παραδείγματα, το πλαίσιο του μαθήματος όμως αφορά την αλληλεπίδραση γλώσσας και κοινωνίας γενικά.

Ε. Panaretou

The linguistic approach to style differs from non-linguistic ones as to the emphasis it gives to the analysis of the language of the text. Style is not considered a subjective, evaluative and intuitively approached notion. On the contrary it is an objectively defined property of the text that emerges from its linguistic elements.

The following topics are discussed:

• The notion of style and its various definitions
• Different approaches to style:
  • • Style as deviation
    • Style as linguistic choice
    • Style as linguistic variation

• Methods of stylistic analysis:
  • • The formalist model (R. Jakobson)
    • The functionalist model
    • Cognitive approaches

The thesis is equivalent to 2 courses (8 ECTS).

Professors of the Department of Linguistics

The main aim of the thesis is to familiarize the student with the scientific way of writing in linguistics. The objectives also include productive engagement with and understanding of a section of scientific material, as well as establishing the acquisition of scientific knowledge and original writing of scientific opinions. The subject of the thesis may be in any field of linguistics and depends on the professors who supervise the thesis and the specifications they set.

Ε. Panaretou

The linguistic approach to style differs from non-linguistic ones as to the emphasis it gives to the analysis of the language of the text. Style is not considered a subjective, evaluative and intuitively approached notion. On the contrary it is an objectively defined property of the text that emerges from its linguistic elements.

The following topics are discussed:

• The notion of style and its various definitions
• Different approaches to style:
  • • Style as deviation
    • Style as linguistic choice
    • Style as linguistic variation

• Methods of stylistic analysis:
  • • The formalist model (R. Jakobson)
    • The functionalist model
    • Cognitive approaches

E. intzidis

New Literacy Studies constitute the multimodal field of construction and negotiation of meaning in social interaction through verbal and written texts (digital and/or printed). The course is designed to the study of language use as social practice and social process. Special attention will be given to the interplay between Literacy Studies and Language Teaching.

During semesters 07 and 08 students can attend one of the following elective courses: 

A) courses in the curriculum, which they have not chosen in a previous semester

Β) ny course offered by the Department of Philology or another department of the Faculty of Philosophy.