Γλωσσολογία και Σημειωτική: Υπόρρητη σημασία και επιθηματοποίηση

Abstract

We examine Modern Greek suffixes -iatiko(s) and -istiko(s) which are indexes of implied meaning related to the cultural and social context of the speakers: The suffixes -iatiko(s) and -istiko(s) are applied to a base that belongs to the category of nouns. Based on the Relational Rule of Word Construction, the above suffixes construct adjectives. Adjectives constructed with -iatiko(s) attribute to the specified noun (kavgas ‘quarrel’) experiential temporal properties of the base noun (vrady ‘evening’), e.g. βραδιάτικος καβγάς ‘evening quarrel/night fight’. Adjectives constructed with -istiko(s) attribute to the specified noun (παιχνίδι ‘toy/game’) socially stereotypical properties of the base noun (αγόρι ‘boy’), e.g. αγορίστικο παιχνίδι ‘boy's toy/game’. Temporal adverbs derived from adjectives with -iatiko(s), e.g. καλοκαιριάτικα ‘in summer’, are used when the speaker’s beliefs or expectations regarding the cultural knowledge for the specific time period, are contradicted. Manner adverbs e.g. δασκαλίστικα ‘in teacher manner’ which are derived from adjectives with -istiko(s), e.g. δασκαλίστικος ‘teacherly’, inherit from the stereotypical meaning concerning social behavior. Adjectives derived from the same noun-base and different suffixes are not absolute synonyms, e.g. βραδ-ινός ‘of evening’ – βραδ-ιάτικος ‘of evening’ and the semantic and pragmatic differences between them are very difficult to understand by non-native speakers. The two suffixes -iatiko(s) and -istiko(s) belong to the [-learned] zone and are applied to nouns of the same zone, e.g. μεσημεριάτικος ‘of midday’ - *μεσημβριάτικος ‘of midday’, παπαδίστικος ‘of priest’ - *ιερίστικος ‘of priest’. The feature [±learned] is also associated with the textual genre in which the adjectives constructed with the above suffixes appear as well as the corresponding adverbs. Consequently, derived adjectives and adverbs with these suffixes are neither present on academic speech nor on scientific terminology.

Keywords

• constructive morphology, suffixes, synonymy, experiential temporal meaning, socially stereotypical meaning