Kiki Nikiforidou received her B.A. in classics from the University of Athens and her M.A. and Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research interests lie in the areas of construction grammar, cognitive semantics, grammaticalization, and lexicography. Her current research focuses on the relationship of grammar to discourse and grammatical approaches to genre.

She has co-edited the volumes Γλώσσα και Νόηση (Language and Cognition, Alexandria publishers 1999), Reviewing Linguistic Thought: Converging Trends for the 21st Century (Mouton de Gruyter 2005), Advances in Frame Semantics (Benjamins 2013), Linguistic theory and language change in the 21st century (Brill 2021). Selected publications include: “Conceptual blending and the interpretation of relatives: A case study from Greek” (Cognitive Linguistics), “Indeterminacy in grammar and acquisition: an interdisciplinary approach to relative clauses” (Review of Cognitive Linguistics), “Viewpoint and construction grammar: The case of past + now” (Language and Literature), “Variably future-marked conditionals in Greek: Integrating discourse and grammar” (Constructions and Frames), “Construction grammar and conventional discourse: A construction-based approach to discoursal incongruity” (Journal of Pragmatics), “Constructional Analysis” (Grammar, Meaning and Pragmatics, Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights 5), “The constructional underpinnings of viewpoint blends:  The Past + now in language and literature” (Viewpoint and Perspective in Language and Gesture), “What’s in a dialogic construction? A constructional approach to polysemy and the grammar of challenge” (Cognitive Linguistics), “Grammatical constructions and cross-text generalizations: Empathetic narration as genre” (Constructions and Frames), “Grammatical variability and the grammar of genre: Constructions, conventionality, and motivation in ‘stage directions’” (Journal of Pragmatics), “Genre and constructional analysis” (Pragmatics and Cognition).

She has been co-editor-in-chief of ‘Constructions and Frames’ (John Benjamins) from 2009 to 2020 and member of the board of the journal from 2020 to today. She is currently co-editing The Cambridge Handbook of Construction Grammar (to appear in 2024).

Curriculum Vitae-Publications