The present entry focuses on definiteness agreement patterns in Modern Greek by exploring the function of the definite article in structures that involve a head noun and a modifier—typically an adjective, but not only—that is also accompanied by the definite article. Such structures have been variously dubbed polydefinite noun phrases/Determiner Phrases (or, simply, polydefinites), appositions, (pseudo)partitives, and evaluative appositives in the numerous studies that have been put forward to account for them over the past four decades or so. The peculiarity of these structures is the very presence of the second definite article that shows up whenever the modified noun itself is definite; at first sight, this ‘second’ article seems redundant, or expletive. Polydefiniteness has earned a privileged position in the literature, as has been discussed extensively and in depth over the past thirty years or so. The aim of this entry is to provide i. a description of the patterns that involve a noun and a modifier accompanied by its own definite article, and ii. a comprehensive survey of the relevant literature by highlighting commonalities and differences across the basic studies that have been written about polydefiniteness.
- modification
- predication
- adjective
- poly(in)definite(ness)
- pseudo-partitives
- apposition
- case/definiteness agreement
- PP modifiers
In the present entry, three main and very common modification patterns in Modern Greek (henceforth Greek) are discussed with the focus on the presence of more than one definite article in all of them. The three patterns under examination manifest what is called definiteness agreement, the primary representative of which are the so-called polydefinite nominals. The aim is to present these patterns outlining their idiosyncrasies, the role of the multiple definite articles, and the similarities and differences among them. Rather than proposing a new analysis for these patterns, the existing analyses are presented in the framework of the rich bibliography that accompanies them. The ultimate goal of the entry is to show that polydefiniteness is not an isolated phenomenon, as has been assumed, but part of a broader system of definiteness agreement under DP-internal predication.