Forme del finire in greco antico: appunti su pauein / pauesthai

This paper is devoted to the analysis of different Greek constructions containig the verb παύω ‘stop’, ‘cease’. In the variety of these constructions with παύω, a regular relationship can easily be established between two classes, opposed by the presence of active vs middle inflection on the verb: παύω / παύομαι. Within each class, three superficially quite different types can be identified: the element denoting the process which comes to an end may be represented by a participle, by an abstract noun in the genitive or by an abstract noun in a core argumental function (subject, in combination with middle παύομαι or object, in combination with active παύω). So, in the παύομαι-class, we have something like: “Achilles stops fighting” (in Greek: pres. part. in the nominative, agreeing with Achilles), “Achilles stops of the fight” (in Greek, noun in the genitive), “The fight stops” (noun in subject function). The subject of these structures regularly corresponds to the object of three parallel structures with active παύω, where an additional argument (let us say, a ‘causer’) occurs as subject: “X stops Achilles fighting” (in Greek: pres. part. in the accusative, agreeing with Achilles). In this paper it is argued that, within each class, the three types can be profitably compared in a framework which assumes Predicate and Argument as the key notions of syntactic analysis. In this framework, also nouns, like verbs and other parts of speech, can play a predicative function which is relevant to clause syntax; moreover, nouns (unlike other parts of speech) can host jointly predicative and argumental function (as first proposed by Carol Rosen). In spite of the superficial diversity, the three types share as a common feature the presence of a double predication: one uniformly represented by the verb παύω / παύομαι and one, formally variable, represented by a participle or by a noun (which in turn, may also cover argumental function or surface as oblique). Similarities and differences among the three types inside each class (the παύω-class and the παύομαι-class) are discussed. The paper raises some general theoretical and methodological issues which are relevant for the investigation of constructions with aspectual predicates in different languages.