Studies on deverbal *-tó- formations in Ancient Greek and Indo-European

This dissertation offers a comprehensive re-evaluation of the deverbal/deradical formations built with the *-tó- suffix in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and its ancient daughter languages, with a particular focus on Ancient Greek. The study aims to provide a functional and empirically grounded description of the suffix's original function by combining comparative philology with insights from functional-typological linguistics. It challenges traditional handbook descriptions, specifically the assumption of inherent "voice neutrality", positing that the primary function of the suffix was to form resultative participles oriented toward the patient or the subject of unaccusative verbs. Seemingly "active" or agent-oriented forms are explained through the concept of the Affected Agent, where the agent undergoes a relevant change of state, while the voice neutrality observed in Greek is interpreted as a secondary innovation rather than a preserved archaism. It also offers a scenario for the emergence of modal meanings: these were not inherited traits of the PIE suffix but developed later through pragmatic inferences and semantic reanalysis.