Some aspects of Irrealis and the usage of in post-classical Greek

The paper addresses some aspects of the changes related to the encoding of irrealis in Ancient Greek, focusing on the usage of the modal particle án in texts of the Post-Classical period. It primarily discusses evidence from documentary papyri. By means of examples, it considers alternative strategies to the usage of an with secondary tenses in the apodoses of counterfactual conditionals, as well as combinations of án with the negative ouk (i.e., ouk án) or with the particle dé (i.e. dán) in main clauses, and of án with in the cluster kán. In this regard, it illustrates the instances of kán in combination with further linguistic elements (e.g. with the adverb vûn), highlighting the difference between the usage of kán as particle and as conjunction. Finally, the paper draws synchronic and diachronic comparisons with other types of Greek texts, particularly with the New Testament and the Chronicle of John Malalas.