Dissertation committee:
Αμαλία Μόζερ, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α. (επιβλέπουσα καθηγήτρια)
Μαρία Ιακώβου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Αθανάσιος Αγάθος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Ελένη Παναρέτου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Ιωάννης Ξούριας, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Νικόλαος Παντελίδης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Πηνελόπη Καμπάκη-Βουγιουκλή, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Δ.Π.Θ.
Summary:
The object of this doctoral dissertation (PhD thesis in Linguistics) on “The Neological Compound Words in Nikos Kazantzakis’ Novels” is broader and deeper than it may seem at first sight, since it is about multiple inextricably interwoven specific issues. This doctoral dissertation is a special collaboration between Linguistics and Modern Greek Philology focusing on four basic interrelated research “keystones”: a) compounding and compounds, b) neology and neologisms, c) Kazantzakis’ metalanguage, and d) Kazantzakis’ novels, his language characteristics in these novels as well as in his whole work, and mostly his language inventing, in other words, his neological ability in coining and using newly formed compound words in his novels written in Greek. Hence, our goal is to study these issues, in an original way, and to use them as suitable interpretative “threads,” in order to get a full insight into our object. Also, our basic method is to present the relevant linguistic theory and the four aspects of Kazantzakis’ metalanguage, and then, to see how they apply in practice to his language and metalanguage, and to the neological compound words in his novels. This method is reflected on the structure of this doctoral dissertation. In the Preface, we explain the reasons for choosing our object. In the Introduction, we try to determine what this object is, we summarize the several opinions of those who have already studied Kazantzakis’ language in general, and more specifically, the language in his novels, and we present the method and the structure of this work. The main part of this thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first two chapters, we present the linguistic theory of compounding and compounds (Chapter 1) and of neology and neologisms (Chapter 2). In Chapter 3, we present Kazantzakis’ language ideology concerning language in general, and especially his language as a whole, and in addition, the language in some of his works. In Chapter 4, we move on from theory to practice. Specifically, in the first three parts, we use the relevant linguistic theory to analyze typical examples drawn from the created corpus of compound words in Kazantzakis’ novels, to express some general observations about these neological compounds, to criticize each one of the four aspects of Kazantzakis’ metalanguage, and finally, to comment on their relation to the creation and the use of the neological compound words in his novels. In the last part of Chapter 4, we present in detail the original research we undertook, not only at the “Research Centre for Modern Greek Dialects – The Historical Dictionary of Modern Greek” (which is under the jurisdiction of the Academy of Athens), but also our research on Kazantzakis’ eleven Greek novels, in order to find the compounds, to create the corpus of compound words, to classify them into categories, to comment on them, and to observe the evolution and the role of the ascertained neological compound words of this corpus. In the Conclusion, we try to determine the specific originality of this dissertation, we recapitulate our statistical research findings, and we summarize how the four aspects of Kazantzakis’ metalanguage were actualized by successfully coining and using these words. Furthermore, we look into the extensions of our research by proposing specific ways in which it can be continued in the future, along with some practical implications in several fields. At the end of the dissertation, there is the Bibliography (Greek and Foreign) categorized in: 1) “Bibliography on compound words and neologisms” and 2) “Bibliography on Kazantzakis.” The separate volume titled: “Appendix for the original research of this doctoral dissertation” consists of 2 parts: 1) “The four categories (according to their origin) of the compound words in Kazantzakis’ eleven Greek novels” (with the full details of this research) and 2) “The neological compound words used in the dialogue parts in Kazantzakis’ eleven Greek novels (with the full details of this research).
