Scientific theory of aspect - To Rolf

Moon-Ryul Jung moon at saint.soongsil.ac.kr
Sun Dec 24 00:00:15 EST 2000


Dear Rolf,

Let me continue the discussion and talk about the intuition behind 
the selection of the parameters for talking about aspect.

You said:
I use three parameters to distinguish between the aspects: 1) The kind of
focus (closeup/distance, details visible or not),2) the area of focus
(length of section of Event time intersected by Reference time), and 3)
The angle of fucus i relation the the nucleus (before/after nucleus,
beginning/end included or not).

Could you explain how these parameters can explain various uses of the
tenses, e.g. inceptive aorist, culminative aorist, inceptive imperfect. 
These uses refer to some kind of transition. There seem to be no ways
for these parameters to describe transition. 

I think what made Kimmo think of aorist as "perfective" is the fact that 
often aorists refer to transition from one state to another. 

Whether aorist typically has the idea of "pefective" or "complete(d)" 
is an important issue in some theological debates. I would like to discuss
it further on this thread.

Let me quote two verses.
 Acts 19:2 EIPEN TE PROS AUTOUS, EI PNEUMA hAGION ELABETE  PISTEUSANTES; 

                             Did you receive Holy Spirit having believed?

 
 Eph 5:26 hINA AUTHN hAGISHi KAQARISAS TWi LOUTRWi TOU hUDATOS EN RHMATI.
          In order that he may sanctify him having cleansed 
                                    by the washing of the water in word.

The question is : 

Do aorist participles typically refer to the time point at which
the situation described by them is completed, relative to which 
the situation described by the main verbs is described?

If so, it is reasonable for some to argue for the order of 
 regeneration then sanctification, or believing then receiving Holy
Spirit, based on the above verses.

Your theory of aorist is "neutral" enough (with respect to the
notion of "completion") to interpret the above verses without
implying the order. 

 
You would say:
 In Acts 19:2, PISTEUSANTES simply introduces the event as a whole
 and looks at it from outside; This situation is used as the 
  reference time for the event of receiving Holy Spirit. Whether
 the reference time refers to the beginning of, the middle of, the end of
 , or after the event of believing depends on the context.



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