The John and Penelope Biggs Department of Classics and WashU Linguistics is delighted to share that Ian Hollenbaugh, Assistant Professor of Classics, has published a new article in the Journal of Greek Linguistics. The piece, titled “Negative directives in Homeric Greek: Function, origin, and development”, appears in Volume 25, Issue 2 of the journal and is now available open access thanks to support from the Center for the Humanities Small Grant for Open Access Publication.

About the Article

Hollenbaugh’s study investigates the linguistic structure and historical development of negative directive constructions (prohibitions) in Homeric Greek. Through a comprehensive corpus analysis, he challenges long-standing assumptions about the role of verbal aspect in these constructions. Instead, his findings show that mood—not aspect—determines functional differences among forms such as the aorist subjunctive, present imperative, and infinitive. The article also proposes a new diachronic model linking these Homeric patterns to a single Proto-Indo-European rule, offering insights into Greek, Sanskrit, and related languages without positing arbitrary replacements of earlier forms.

Ian joined the WashU Classics faculty in 2021 and specializes in Greek and Latin linguistics, historical syntax, and philology. His scholarship bridges linguistic theory and classical texts, contributing to a deeper understanding of ancient languages and their evolution.

To explore Ian’s article, visit Brill Online.
Read about the grant that supported this publication here.

Explore WashU Classics Online

This achievement aligns with our department’s ongoing efforts to promote open-access scholarship. We invite you to visit our dedicated page, WashU Classics Online, where you’ll find a curated collection of freely available resources, including faculty publications, digital tools, and educational materials designed to support research and teaching in Classics.