Modern Greek As: A Case Study in Grammaticalization and Grammatical Polysemy

The grammaticalization of as from a lexical imperative of Ancient Greek to a particle of Modern Greek follows some well-identified trends in historical linguistics. An adequate description of the change needs to refer simultaneously to semantic, syntactic and phonological parameters, which makes as a typical case of grammaticalization and a clear example of interaction of all such parameters. As, a highly polysemous category in Modern Greek, follows complex paths of development which for their description require also reference to 1) semantic relations such as metaphor and metonymy and 2) the interaction of existing grammatical patterns of the language with the emergent category.