Striving for optimization: Exploring change in about 3,500 years of compounding in Greek

This article deals with compounding in Greek, a language with an attested history of about 3,500 years. It shows that, through the centuries, Greek compounding has preserved its considerable productivity and most of its structural patterns, while it has also been enriched with the emergence of a new pattern of verbal compounds filling an existing gap. It is argued that changes have occurred in accordance with the dominant properties of Greek morphology, particularly compounding, which is largely stem-based and right-headed. As a result, the grammar of Greek compounding has become more optimal, in the sense that structures deviating from these properties have been restricted or nearly eliminated, and regularity has increased through the reduction of unnecessary variation. Moreover, the emergence of a compound marker rendered Modern Greek compounds particularly distinct from other word formations and their structure turned more systematic. The article also provides an explanation for the existence of an apparent counterexample of left-headed compounds in a number of Modern Greek varieties, which has been interpreted as the result of contact with Romance. Evidence for claims and proposals is drawn from all stages of the Greek language, ranging from Mycenaean to Modern Greek.