When stylistics is a matter of syntax: cognate accusatives in Ancient Greek

A specific subset of structures featuring an etymological figure in Ancient Greek are taken into account, i.e. those in which a verb form combines with a cognate abstract noun in accusative. The pattern is obviously typical of literary texts particularly sensitive to word assonances. However, apart from any stylistic considerations, this study investigates the mechanisms here underlying the verb-noun combination particularly focusing on contrasts with ordinary transitive structures. The analysis singles out a set of morpho-syntactic features revealing the predicative nature of cognate accusatives, so that the verb plus noun collocation can be analysed as a whole predicative complex.