Syllabification in Greek: Αn experimental investigation of how orthography messes with abstract representations

When speakers syllabify a word, they are expected to rely on their implicit knowledge of how their phonological grammar treats certain sound sequences; yet, they often produce or accept as well-formed alternatives that may come into conflict with grammar rules.

Interestingly, such “divergent” variants seem to be influenced by prescriptive hyphenation rules.SIGMA examines the influence of hyphenation on the perception and production of syllable boundaries taking Standard Modern Greek as a case study.

The speakers’ varying preferences will be revealed via large-scale experimental tasks addressing participants of diverse literacy backgrounds and employing novel methodologies (language games, judgments using a Likert scale) for the first time in research on Greek syllabification.

Intra- and cross-speaker variation will be modeled within Gradient Harmonic Grammar, which assumes that abstract representations ‒here, innovatively, structural components of the syllable‒ have a gradient activity level that affects their probability of realization.

Thus, instead of selecting the “correct” form and discarding all others, this model generates variants with different chances to emerge.

The findings will be incorporated into a concise guide offering an up-to-date description of syllabification rules, introducing variation as a possibility.SIGMA’s experimental methodology and theoretical assumptions can be extended to the study of a wide range of linguistic phenomena and populations, including individuals with speech pathologies or speakers of L2/heritage Greek.

Beyond its significant scientific impact, its applications, especially to education, will have major societal and economic impact, as the project paves the way for revising educational resources, including tailored materials for atypical/non-native populations.

These enhanced materials will be exploitable by official educational bodies in Greece and abroad, in curricula for Greeks of diaspora or language learning apps.