Are Participles Marked Temporally?

Christopher Hutson crhutson at salisbury.net
Wed Mar 3 08:51:59 EST 1999



Carl wrote:
>
>Let me just state what I think is a "more-or-less" agreed and
traditional 
>view: the "tense" stems really do express only aspect, but when the
AUGMENT 
>(whether temporal or syllabic) is added in an Imperfect, an Aorist,
or a 
>Pluperfect form, then temporal indication of past time is also
clearly 
>there. But to this must be added that even that statement will be
disputed 
>by some who will claim that an Aorist indicative may point to present
time 
>or even to future time, and that other factors in the sentence,
including 
>the nature of the verb being used as well as adverbs, etc., etc.,
enter 
>into play in indicating the time frame.


I have found this list most helpful as I have tried to sort out aspect
in my own mind.  I am no aspect geek, so this is not a dispute but a
query for all the big aspect greeks out there:

The idea that the augment marks an indicative verb for past time
makes sense to me and seems to account for most
texts.  In moods other than the indicative, I can understand the
argument that Greek "tenses" are marked for aspect but not for time.  

My question has to do with participles.  Participles have no augment,
so according to the general consensus given above they should have
aspectual but not temporal significance.  And yet, it nearly always
"works" in my mind to read an aorist participle as describing action
that takes place prior to the action of the verb in the main clause,
while a present participle describes action that takes place
simultaneously with the action of the main verb.  Can you listers help
me make sense of how you fit participles into your time/aspect
theories?  Why is it that participles seem to have temporal
significance even though they have no augments?  What am I missing?

Thanks,

XPIC

------------------------------------
Christopher R. Hutson
          Hood Theological Seminary
          Salisbury, NC  28144
crhutson at salisbury.net
------------------------------------



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