Professor of Linguistics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Philosophy, Faculty of Philology, Department of Linguistics.

He was born in Crete in 1948. He studied Greek Literature at the University of Athens and had postgraduate studies at Cologne and Heidelberg Universities on a scholarship from the German government. In 1976 he received his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Cologne on completion of the thesis: Phthano. Ein Beitrag zur griechischen Wortforschung, Heidelberg 1976. He was a redactor for the Historical Dictionary of the Athens Academy (1977-1983), a lecturer, an extraordinary professor (1982) and a professor of Linguistics at Crete University, Faculty of Letters (1979-1993).

He was a visiting professor at the Universities of Münster, Germany (1989), Athens (1990-1991), Cyprus, Nicosia (1994, 1997, 2011) Thrace (2001-2002), Granada, Spain (2006) and Frederick, Cyprus (2010). He remained for long periods of time a visiting researcher in the Universities of North Dakota, U. S. A. (1983), Reading and Cambridge, England (1987, 1990). He was the first Director of the District Centre for Teachers-In Service-Training of West Attica (1993-1994), Vice President of the Pedagogical Institute and President of the Department of Research, Documentation and Educational Technology (1994- 1996), Permanent deputy national representative on the Education Committee of the Council of Europe (1996-1997), National expert on Language Engineering in the European Union (1996-1998), Advisor to the Foundation for Hellenic Culture (1997- 1998), Vice President of the Centre for Educational Research (1999-2000), Chairman of the Board of Governors of the European Schools (1999-2000), Vice President of the American Foundation for Greek Language and Culture-Athens Centre (2009- 2012). For five years (1984-1988), his area of expertise was automatic translation, and he worked as a special collaborator of the E. E. C. research programme Eurotra, responsible for terminology and electronic lexicography. He is among the first head coordinators of Lingua and Erasmus programmes, co-operating with the Universities of Amsterdam, Münster, Lund, Vitoria and Granada. In Greece, he has been responsible for the projects Grecoterm, Eco-Jura-Dict, Transport, Langcred.

He is currently the scientific coordinator of the Modern Greek Dictionary of the Athens Academy. His scientific and research interests cover three main areas: Ancient and Modern Greek dialectology and electronic lexicography, the relation between language and literature and the language of education, with emphasis on computers and high technology. He is engaged in linguistic terminology, in theoretical Linguistics and in the History of the Greek language, while he is interested in stylistic and sociolinguistic problems and the rules of the correct use of Modern Greek. Up to the present day, he has published 361 papers, books and reviews (cf. his List of Publications, Athens 2000, pp. 41).

Some of the most important are: ‘Zum Sprachverfall in der griechischen Antike’, Philanthropia kai Eusebeia, Festschrift für A. Dihle zum 70. Geburtstag, Göttingen 1993, 36-45. ‘A critical evaluation of some Modern Greek Dictionaries’, Skriften Pa Skaermen, 8, 1994, 19-33. ‘A case of 2 whistled speech from Greece’, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 117, 1994, 389- 396. “Neohellenic: The present state”, in Greek. A language in evolution. Essays in honour of Antonios N. Jannaris, Edited by Chrys C. Caragounis, Hildesheim-ZürichNew York 2010: Georg Olms Verlag, 269-292.

From his books in Modern Greek, the following are worth mentioning: Modern Greek language. Essays on language, literature and style, Athens 1992, 3rd ed. Athens 1999. Language and education. Issues concerning the teaching of Modern Greek, Athens 1994. Glossalgimata: Researches on the Greek language, Athens 1997.

Linguistic and literary criticism, Athens 1998, reprinted, Athens 1999. Cretological Studies. Language-Literature-Culture, Herakleion 2001: Crete University Press. He has been editor of the volume The Greek language, Athens 1995 (Ministry of National Education and Religion) and responsible for the Bulletin of Educational Articles (issues 4-7, 1994-1995).

He is a member of the Editorial Board of ten journals, among which, Glossologia, Dictio, Journal of Greek Linguistics, New Education, Ellotia. He has taken part in more than 200 Greek and international conferences and is a member of many scientific societies in Greece and abroad.