The constructional motivation of indefinite generics in Modern Greek

This paper argues for the discoursal motivation of constructions and the constructional motivation of a Modern Greek indefinite article, by focusing on generics and some other nominal constructions in Modern Greek containing the indefinite determiner enas/mia/ena ("a/an", masc./fem./ neut. respectively). Moreover, it illustrates the cross-linguistic relevance of Construction Grammar. A family of indefinite nominal constructions is identified, including the Indefinite Generic Construction, the Indefinite Proper Noun Construction, the Indefinite Predicate Nominal Construction, and the Proverbial Indefinite Construction, which is further shown to be primed by specific pragmatic and discoursal features. On the basis of the proposed analysis, and consistently with established views on semantic change (Traugott 1989), I suggest that the expressivity and the discoursal characterization associated with this family of indefinite constructions in Modern Greek motivate the partial de-semanticization of the indefinite determiner, its synchronic variability (after Hoffmann & Trousdale 2011) and, ultimately, its function as an article in the language. © John Benjamins Publishing Company

Cognitive, cultural, and constructional motivations of polysemy and semantic change: The case of the Greek ψvxή

Within the framework of cognitive linguistics and construction grammar (as in Lakoff 1987; Langacker 2000; Goldberg 1995; and Fried and Östman 2004), it is claimed in this paper that the semantics of ψvxή (psyche) is motivated by cognitive, cultural, and constructional parameters of meaning. More specifically, it is argued that psyche, as the immaterial nature of a human being, and the seat of emotions and feelings in particular, is understood in terms of image-based metaphors, a cultural model of the self, and a cultural narrative of existence. It is also argued that the frequent occurrence of psyche in a number of collocations and idioms motivates and constrains constructional meaning. At the same time, constructions motivate extended senses of this word, thereby contributing to its polysemy and ultimately to semantic change. The evidence presented within this framework argues against a fixed borderline between lexical and constructional meaning. This view, long and tacitly adopted in lexicographic practice by necessity, is gaining further support within current research in the framework of lexicography (Fillmore 2008; Hanks 2008), corpus linguistics (Fellbaum 2007), lexical semantics (Taylor et al. 2003), language change (Bybee 2006a), and construction grammar (Boas 2008). © John Benjamins Publishing Company

On the conceptual, cultural and discursive motivation of Greek pain lexicalizations

This paper provides evidence for the interaction of conceptual structure, cultural models and discursive practices in motivating pain lexicalizations and related constructions in Greek. It is argued that pain is construed as a process or state, a designated property, or an instance of a process or state, prototypically associated with an experiencer and a cause. The elaboration of this core semantics of pain by image-schematic and metaphorical structure and a cultural narrative of selfhood yields metaphorical extensions of pain as an entity and motivates its understanding in the physical and the psychological modalities. Finally, frequency counts of pain lexicalizations in different discourse genres provide evidence for the discursive motivation of the lexical categories at hand. These findings seem to argue for points of contact between cognitive linguistics (Lakoff 1987; Sweetser 1990; Langacker 2000), a discursive view of relativity (Clark 1996; Lucy 1996), and a neo-Whorfian perspective on language as a bio-cultural hybrid (Levinson 2003). © Walter de Gruyter 2006

Directionality in translation processes and practices

In this article an attempt is made to systematically approach directionality in translation processes and practices from a cognitive point of view. Within the framework of cognitive semantics, it is argued that translation is an instance of conceptual metaphor, whereby conceptual structures of the target language are mapped onto the source text in order to make it understood by the TL reader. The relevance of this position for the study of translation becomes obvious when considered against existing practices in professional and nonprofessional translating. Thus, the directionality from target to source is experimentally shown to correlate with another type of directionality, namely, translating from or into one's mother tongue, and can explain observable facts in the performance of translation tasks. © 1996 John Benjamins Publishing Company

Re-designing Greek Public Document Texts, Re-constructing Social Relations

This study is intended to motivate interest in critical discourse analysis of different types of Greek public documents and forms, which generally do not respond to the demands of a ‘service society’ that Greece aspires to comply with, as they seem to constitute instances of bureaucratic discourse articulated in texts that even fully literate citizens have difficulty in accessing. In this paper we involve ourselves in paradigmatic analysis of a state-issued property declaration form and an accompanying instructions-brochure viewed as the realizations of specific discursive practices in Greece. Critical analysis of these texts shows that they serve conditions that maintain the unequal power relationship between citizen and state. Their discursive and pragmatic features are such that they become accessible only to highly specialized readers. Therefore, average citizens are unable to fill them in as required. They are unlikely to understand their rights and obligations so as to respond to their civic duties. © 2001, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved

Dialogic constructions and discourse units: The case of think again

Adopting a constructionally-oriented analysis, the present paper examines the pattern 'think again' (i.e., an instance of a mental state verb + adverbial adjunct) in synchronic, corpus-derived data. On the basis of both qualitative and quantitative analyses we show that think again merits constructional status in language; while it inherits features of fully-compositional meaning from its constituents it has also developed its own idiosyncratic properties. We further argue that think again may ultimately function as a discourse marker of challenge that regulates the relationship between Speaker (S) and Addressee (A), correlating with certain contextual regularities and interdependencies. It thus qualifies as a discourse construction that imposes a dialogic construal on its context and contributes fundamentally to discourse unit delimitation. © 2020 John Benjamins Publishing Company. All rights reserved

Imaging of intrahepatic progression of hepatocellular carcinoma post transarterial chemoembolization. A long-term, prospective evaluation of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS)

Aims: To assess the diagnostic efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the context of intrahepatic progression (IHP) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Material and methods: Sixty HCC patients were prospectively included in the study. They were treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with doxorubicin-eluting microspheres (231 sessions). Imaging follow-up was performed 1 month after each session and at 3-6 month intervals after the last session of TACE and included CEUS and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (reference modality). The diagnosis of IHP was based on mRECIST criteria and the respective findings of MR and CEUS were recorded, categorized and correlated. Results: A total of 441 CEUS studies were compared with the corresponding MR studies. During a follow-up period of 5-82 months (mean: 22 months), MR diagnosed 51 cases of IHP in 34/60 (56.6%) patients. CEUS correctly diagnosed 12/14 (85.7%) cases of IHP of target tumors, 2/5 (40%) cases of IHP of non-target tumors, 13/18 (72.2%) cases of distal and 6/9 (66.6%) cases of proximal new lesions, and 5/5 (100%) cases of major vessel involvement. On a per-lesion basis, CEUS was significantly inferior to MR in the detection of new lesions (p=0.002). No false positive CEUS diagnoses of IHP were observed. 54% of the diagnostic failures of CEUS were considered clinically significant. Conclusion: In the long term evaluation of HCC post TACE, CEUS appears to have limitations in the detection of IHP, which are more prominent in the case of new lesions and of progressive non-target tumors

Early post-interventional sonographic evaluation of prostatic artery embolization. A promising role for contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS)

Aims: To assess the feasibility, findings and potential value of early post-interventional, contrast-enhanced ultrasonographic (CEUS) study of prostate artery embolization (PAE). Material and methods: Fourteen patients treated with PAE for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia were prospectively included in the study. Sonographic evaluation of the prostate included: 1) baseline transabdominal and transrectal CEUS (ta-CEUS and tr-CEUS, respectively) 1-3 days prior to PAE; 2) early post PAE CEUS, with ta-CEUS immediately post PAE and tr-CEUS 3 days post PAE; and 3) follow-up with ta-CEUS and tr-CEUS 3 months post PAE. A brief unenhanced US study preceded each CEUS. Post-therapeutic changes in size, echogenicity and enhancement of the prostate were recorded and were correlated with clinical outcomes. Results: PAE resulted in clinical success in 11/14 patients (78.5%). All sonographic studies were technically adequate, with the exception of ta-CEUS immediately post PAE in 2/14 (14.2%) patients. CEUS studies immediately post PAE and 3 days post PAE showed non-enhancing, welldefined infarctions of the prostate in 10/14 patients (71.4%). There was a strong correlation between ta-CEUS immediately post PAE and tr-CEUS 3 days post PAE regarding the measurements of prostatic infarctions (r =0.98, p< 0.01). The presence of infarctions on early post PAE CEUS was associated with clinical success (p=0.01) and their extent correlated with the degree of prostate shrinkage on 3-month follow-up (r=0.84, p<0.05). The 3 cases of failed PAE showed no infarctions and no prostate shrinkage. Conclusions: Early post-interventional CEUS of PAE is feasible and may have clinical and prognostic value. © 2017, Societatea Romana de Ultrasonografie in Medicina si Biologie