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This page pertains to UD version 2.

DET: determiner

DET: determiner

Definition

Determiners are words that modify nouns or noun phrases and express the reference of the noun phrase in context. Ιt is possible to replace a single determiner (that seems to function like a pronoun PRON) with a synonymous full noun phrase. They are often used to modify a noun phrase rather than replacing it.

The traditional grammar of Modern Greek does not specify the category “determiner”; rather it specifies definite and indefinite articles, adjectives and pronouns.

The label DET is assigned to the two articles, certain traditional adjectives (and their comparatives) and to a set of pronouns.

Examples

The preposition από is sometimes used not as such but rather to ensure distributive readings; in these cases it is assigned the PoS DET: Για τις θέσεις 1 και 2 υπήρξε από ένας υποψήφιος for the positions 1 and 2 existed from one.NOM candidate.NOM `there was a different candidate for each of the positions 1 and 2’

Most of Modern Greek determiners inflect for Gender, Number and Case. They tend to inflect like adjectives, in particular because they often have three genders. They agree in gender, number and case with the nouns they modify. The determiners κάτι / kati “some”, κάθε / kathe “every”, τίποτα/ε / tipota/e “nothing/anything” do not inflect.

References

Holton, David, Peter Mackridge & Irene Philippaki-Warburton. 1997. Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language. Routledge, London 1997; reprinted 1999, 2002 & 2004

Mackridge, Peter. 1985. The Modern Greek Language. A Descriptive Analysis of Standard Modern Greek. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1985. (Paperback edn, 1987, reprinted 1989 & 1992)

Κλαίρης, Χρήστος & Γεώργιος Μπαμπινώτης. 2001. Γραμματική της Νέας Ελληνικής Τόμος Γ’. 2η έκδοση. Αθήνα: Ελληνικά Γράμματα.

Τζάρτζανος, Αχιλλέας, 2002. Νεοελληνική Σύνταξις της Κοινής Δημοτικής. Αθήνα: Εκδόσεις Κυριακίδη. σελ. 225.

Τσοπανάκης, Αγαπητός Γ. (1994). Νεοελληνική γραμματική. Θεσσαλονίκη: Εκδοτικός Οίκος Αδελφών Κυριακίδη.


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