Are Participles Marked Temporally?

Christopher Hutson crhutson at salisbury.net
Thu Mar 4 11:56:24 EST 1999



>From: "Jon Robertson" <jmrober at pop6.ibm.net>
>
>As we have opened this thread once again, I would like to ask a 
>couple of basic questions.
>1.  Do people on this list believe that there is a basic difference 
>between "aspect" and "aktionsart"?  . . . 


Yes, I see the distinction between them, although I must confess that
whenever I try to explain the meaning of a particular verb in terms of
aspect, somehow what I hear coming out of my mouth always seems to me
to sound more like Aktionsart.  As a theory aspect seems clear to me;
but as a matter of practical application the value of aspect is still
murky to me.

> 2.  What would people on the list think about the 
>relative temporality of a participle being affected by the 
>participle's position (i.e. before or after the main verb?)  
>According to Porter, when the participle appears before the main 
>verb, "there is a tendency for the action to be depicted as 
>antecedent," while when after the main verb, "there is a tendency for

>the action to be seen as concurrent or subsequent." (Porter, Verbal 
>Aspect, p. 381)  I am not necessarily arguing for this position, I 
>just want to hear the opinions of those with greater experience and 
>knowledge.  My small paper on the aorist participles which follow the

>head verb in the book of Acts seems to support Porter's view, but who

>knows???  (By the way, I now have a copy of that paper, if anyone is 
>interested in seeing it.  The data would seem to support the view 
>that there are certainly some examples of the aorist participle of 
>"subsequent action".)

Porter also says this in _Idioms_, 187-189.  It sounds plausible.  Rod
Decker shared with me the results of his own analysis of this question
based on Mark.  His findings were that Porter's principle holds true
most of the time (around 85%).  Perhaps we should ask Rod to post his
summary of his findings on this list.  And Jon, please also share your
findings with the list.  I would be happy to read your paper, if you
can e-mail it to me privately, but it would be good if you would
summarize your findings for the list.  

As the thread begins to veer, let me express my thanks to all for your
help with my original question.

XPIC

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



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