From 1989-1993, I studied Greek language and literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 1994 I moved to Leiden (The Netherlands) in order to pursuit my studies on linguistics. In January 1999, I received my Ph.D. from Leiden University/Holland Institute of Linguistics. My dissertation, Headmost Accent Wins, dealt with a group of lexical accent systems and introduced a theory of accentuation that relied heavily on the interface of morphosyntactic principles with phonology. In 1998, I was awarded a Talent-Stipendium from The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in order to carry out postdoctoral research at UMass, Amherst (USA) for a year. From 2000-2001, I taught graduate and undergraduate courses on phonetics, phonology, morphology and semantics at Boston University (Massachusetts, USA). In 2001, I was appointed as a Lecturer and later as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean (Rhodes). Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Linguistics (School of Philology), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

In 2008 I was awarded the Fulbright Scholar Program in order to carry out research on the evolution of accents in Greek at MIT and in 2009 I received, together with Dr. Vassilios Spyropoulos, the Meletes research grant by the J.S. Latsis Foundation (only 15 proposals out of the 713 applications were funded that year) for the documentation and preservation of Oftika Pontic spoken in the village of Nea Trapezounta (Prefecture of Pieria).

As a student and later as a scholar, I had the chance to be part of the academic life of many great Departments in Europe (e.g., Leiden University/LUCL, University of Konstanz, Cambridge University, University of Oxford) and the USA (e.g., Stanford University, UCSC, UMass, Amherst, MIT).

 

More information on my education and my academic profile can be found in my CV | Βιογραφικό.

My primary research emphasis is on phonology and its interface with morphology and syntax. In my dissertation, I examine the stress behavior of a group of lexical accent systems, namely Greek, Russian, and a few Salish languages, and propose that stress assignment in such systems is, to a great extent, determined by morphosyntactic structure. I am also interested in morphosyntactic principles that play a role in prosodic constituent formation, especially in the area of cliticization. Another focal point of my research is the flow and processing of information between the components of Grammar and, especially, the question of whether phonology reflects differences in the processing of syntactic material. The interface is the focus of my research but it does not monopolize my scientific interests. During and following my graduate studies, I worked on other areas of phonology such as stress typology, evolution of stress, the Iambic/Trochaic Law, vowel harmony, and so on. I have also a profound interest in the dialects of the Dodecanese (e.g. Symi Rhodes, Karpathos) as well as in contact-induced systems and, especially, those varieties of Greek that have been in long-term contact with Turkish (e.g. Asia Minor Greek, Ofitika Pontic, Rhodian Muslim Greek, etc.).

Moreover, I have collaborated with Dr. Marina Tzakosta (University of Crete) and Dr. Spyridoula Varlokosta (University of Athens) on (typical and atypical) phonological acquisition where my focus was mainly on the architecture of early grammars and the formal expression of learning paths as these are revealed in the speech of young learners of Greek.

Recently, I got increasingly interested in experimental approaches to linguistics and especially on processing. In collaborative work with my colleague Despoina Papadopoulou and a group of students, we explore how native speakers and L2 learners of Greek perceive and process stress and prosodic structure in simple words and compounds. I am also involved in a project on the prosodic form of acronymic constructions awarded to Kalomoira Nikolou (AUTh & University of the Aegean) by the State Scholarship Foundation (ΙΚΥ).

Finally, as a Project Leader of the Action “Reinforcement of the mother tongue”, which is a component of the larger Project ‘Education of alien and returnee students’ awarded to Prof. Anna Anastassiadis-Symeonidis (Dept. of Linguistics, AUTh) and funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007-2013, I collaborate with a group of linguists, language instructors and educators on: (a) developing comparative studies of Greek and Russian and Greek and Albanian, (b) producing the appropriate linguistic material for teaching to first and secondary education students their native tongue, and (c) creating a framework for the preservation of bilingualism.

 

More information on my research interests can be found in the Research page of this website.

- ΓΛΩ304: Η εξέταση του μαθήματος την Παρασκευή 30/09/2011 θα πραγματοποιηθεί σύμφωνα με το Πρόγραμμα.

- 32nd Annual Meeting of the Department of Linguistics, Thessaloniki, AUTh, May 6-8, 2011
http://www.lit.auth.gr/amgl32/amgl32_en/index.html

- 10th International Conference on Greek Linguistics, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, September 1-4, 2011.
http://www.icgl.gr/en/component/content/article/1-welcome.html

- GALA 2011 (Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition), Thessaloniki, September 6-8, 2011
http://gala2011.web.auth.gr/site.html

- June 1, 2011: Nikolou, K., V. Apostolouda, D. Papadopoulou & A. Revithiadou. Experimental investigations on Greek stress. Paper to be presented at the International Workshop on Suprasegmentals in Acquisition and Processing, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, 31 May-1 June, 2011.
http://ling.uni-konstanz.de/pages/home/kabak/wrkshp2011.htm/

- August 24, 2011: Nikolou, K., D. Papadopoulou & A. Revithiadou. Exceptional stress patterns in L2 Greek: Evidence from Russian learners. Paper to be presented at AILA 2011 (The 16th World Congress of Applied Linguistics (AILA2011), Beijing, August 23-28, 2011.
http://www.aila2011.org/en/