111-130

Άρθρα = Articles

• Χειλά-Μαρκοπούλου, Δέσποινα

The so called indefinite article enas, mia, ena (ένας, μια/μια, ενα) of Greek is examinedfrom both a synchronic and (mainly) a diachronic point of view, in an attempt to clanfy its origin and its relation with the homonymic numeral and the indefinite pronounenas, mm, ena Taking into account the textual and grammatical evidence from theclassical through the byzantine to the modern era, we argue that, according toLehmann s criteria of grammaticalization and some of its basic mechanisms (divergence,unidirectionality etc ) described in Hopper & Traugott 1993, prénominal enassynchromcally should be considered an indefinite marker rather than an article,diachronically it is only indirectly related with the numeral enas, since the first formderived from it through semantic divergence is the homonymie indefinite pronounenas.

• Languages and Literature

• Greek language
• Grammar, Comparative and general

A shorter version of this article has been published (in Greek) in Moser, A. (ed.) 1999, Greek Linguistics ’97, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference of the Greek Language (Athens: Hellenika Grammata) 537-545., Περιέχει σημειώσεις και βιβλιογραφία