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Faculty of Classics

 

Research

The history and structure of the Greek and Latin languages (including medieval and modern as well as ancient Greek), linguistic theory, historical linguistics.  He was co-director (with David Holton) of an AHRC funded research project to produce the world's first grammar of the medieval Greek vernacular (to be published by CUP), and is currently co-director (with James Clackson) of an AHRC funded project to investigate the long-term impact of Greek on the languages of ancient Italy.

Publications

Key publications: 

Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers (revised and expanded 2nd edition), Wiley-Blackwell, 2010
The Blackwell History of the Latin Language, Blackwell, 2007 - with James Clackson.
Generative Grammar, Longman/Pearson, 1987
Space and Time in Homer, Arno Press New York, 1983.

Plus: many articles on the morphology, syntax and semantics of ancient, medieval and modern Greek], including the following:

‘Ouk ísmen oudén: Negative Concord and Negative Polarity in the History of Greek’.  To appear in the Journal of Greek Linguistics 14.1 (2014).

‘High Register Medieval Greek: ‘Diglossia’ and What Lay behind it’.   To appear in Caterina Carpinato and Olga Tribulato (eds.) Storia e Storie della Lingua Greca, Venice: Università Ca’ Foscari (2014).

‘Three and a Half Millennia of Greek: Biology, Logic and Experience’.  To appear in Paola Crisma and Giuseppe Longobardi (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Diachronic and Historical Linguistics (2014).

Teaching and Supervisions

Research supervision: 

A wide range of topics in Greek historical syntax from ancient to modern Greek, including the expression of mood and modality in Homeric Greek, noun phrase structure in ancient and medieval Greek, the emergence of future periphrases in late antique and medieval Greek, the evolution of the syntax of complementation in late antique Greek with particular reference to the Roman and Byzantine papyri, and the development of the ancient Greek aspectual system with special reference to the role of the perfect.

Emeritus Professor of Comparative Philology
Fellow of St John's College
Professor Geoff  Horrocks

Contact Details

St John's College
Cambridge
CB2 1TP
01223 335164 (Faculty) / 338696 (College)
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Latest news

Trinity College Project Completion Grant

28 February 2025

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Dr Frisbee Sheffield has been awarded a Trinity College Project Completion Grant. The award, for Mid-Career Researchers in the Humanities, will enable a period of research leave in Lent Term 2026 in connection with a project on Socrates and the Ethics of Conversation.

Teaching Associate in Ancient History (Temporary Cover)

21 February 2025

The Faculty of Classics is seeking to appoint a Temporary Teaching Associate in Classics (Ancient History) from 1 October 2025 (or as soon as possible thereafter) for two years. This post is open to those, at any stage in their career, with a primary research and teaching interest in ancient history. The Faculty is...

Assistant Professor in Classics (Ancient Greek History)

4 February 2025

The Faculty of Classics is seeking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Classics (Ancient Greek History) from 1 September 2025. The role is open to those, at any stage in their career, with a primary research interest in Archaic/Classical/Hellenistic Greek History. The successful candidate will have the ability, or be...

Philip Leverhulme Prizes 2024

18 October 2024

The Faculty is delighted to announce that both Dr Lea Niccolai and Dr Henry Spelman have been awarded Philip Leverhulme Prizes in the 2024 competition. Professor Anna Vignoles, Director of the Leverhulme Trust, said: “Now in its twenty-third year, this scheme continues to attract applications from extraordinarily high...