Aspect in the service of mood: the morphosyntax of subjunctive in Griko

Abstract

The topic of this paper is the realization of subjunctive mood in Griko. On the basis of the distribution of verbal forms inside na-clauses, we put forward the claim that, unlike Standard Modern Greek, in Griko subjunctive mood is encoded through both the choice of complementizer and the morphology of the verb. The complementizer na and the verb inside the embedded clause are thus in a relation of concord. We further propose that concord in terms of mood is a grammatical feature induced in Griko via contact with Salentino. If our analysis is on the right track, then subjunctive mood is another domain where contact between Italo-Greek and Italo-Romance in Southern Italy has had effects in both directions.