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
- definite article (
PronType=Art): ο, η, το / o, i, to “the” - indefinite article (
PronType=Art): ένας, μία, ένα / enas, mia, ena “a” - adjectives denoting quantities and their comparatives:
- (
PronType=Ind) αρκετός / arketos “enough”, λίγος / ligos “little/few” (ελάχιστος/elachistos “very very little/few”), μερικός / merikos “some”, μισός / misos “half”, μόνος / monos “only”, πολύς / polis “many/much” - (
PronType=Tot) ολόκληρος / olokliros “whole”, όλος / olos “all”, πας/άπας / pas/apas “all”
- (
- demonstrative pronouns (
PronType=Dem): αυτός / aftos “this”, εκείνος / ekinos “that”, (ε)τούτος / (e)toutos “this/that”, τέτοιος / tetios “such”, τόσος / tosos “this/that many/much, so/as”, ίδιος / idios “the same” - indefinite pronouns:
- (
PronType=Ind) άλλος / alos “other”, κάποιος / kapios “somebody”, κάτι / kati “some” - (
PronType=Tot) κάθε / kathe “every”, καθένας / kathenas “each one” - (
PronType=Ind/Neg) κανείς (κανένας) /kanis (kanenas) “nobody”, τίποτα/ε / tipota/e “nothing/anything”
- (
- interrogative pronouns when followed by a noun (
PronType=Int): ποιος / pios “who”, πόσος / posos “how many/much”, τι / ti “what kind”, e.g., ποιο/πόσο/τι φαγητό θέλεις; / pio/poso/ti fagito thelis? “which/how much/what kind of food do you want?” - relative pronouns when followed by a noun (
PronType=Rel): όποιος/-δήποτε / opios/-dipote “anyone/whoever”, όσος/-δήποτε / osos/-dipote “no matter how many/much”, ό,τι/-δήποτε / oti/-dipote “whichever” - (
PronType=Emph) ίδιος / idios “the same”
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 el-feat/Gender, el-feat/Number and el-feat/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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