The “overeating” semantic field in the Greek linguistic worldview

The article deals with the semantic field of “overeating” in Modern Greek within an integrated linguo-cultural and construction-grammatical framework. The dataset comprises occasional lexical formations and phraseological units extracted through corpus analysis (from the elTenTen web corpora) and subjected to annotation for semantic, imagistic, and stylistic parameters. In the radial-zonal model, where we distinguish core, near-peripheral, and far-peripheral strata, we show that the peripheral strata are predominantly instantiated by stable constructions and comparative patterns. Particular attention is paid to construction’s templates τρώω / κατεβάζω / ρίχνω + Χ, in which Χ functions as an idiomatic quantifi er of excess; the template’s semantic and pragmatic profi les are analyzed. The fi ndings indicate a systematic interlacing of bodily imagery, culturally entrenched stereotypes, and colloquial expressivity in the Modern Greek linguistic worldview, as refl ected in the field’s graded organization from core to periphery. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that colloquial expressions and occasionalisms (e. g., ντερλικώνω, σαβουρώνω, χλαπακιάζω, etc.) exhibit robust productivity in contemporary usage and exert normative pressure, thereby motivating a refi ned description of their status, semantics, and stylistic marking. The novelty of this research is twofold: first, the identifi cation and systematic analysis of stable constructions, and second, the development of an annotated corpus of expressive occasionalisms and phraseological units derived from the elTenTen web corpora. The fi ndings suggest that colloquial and occasional expressions play a signifi cant role in shaping modern Greek discourse, contributing to the expansion and reinterpretation of the cultural food code. The results elucidate the mechanisms behind the use of quantitative hyperbole and fi gurative metonymy, affirming the effectiveness of construction-based analysis in describing phraseological units.