Technology and Grammar
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Aug 16 09:36:24 EDT 2002
At 12:51 PM +0000 8/16/02, Mark Wilson wrote:
>I was rethinking some of the findings by Rod Decker on the
>use of the Present and Aorist in GMark. It appeared, although
>I could be wrong, that Rod conducted this research the old
>fashion way. Which got me thinking in yet another direction.
>
>Are there efforts underway, now that most of the Greek literature
>has been reduced to electronic form, to analyze Greek grammar,
>syntax, etc.?
>
>I suppose as we continue studying Greek for the next several
>decades, that we will discover more and more grammatical "rules."
>I would think that we could discover trends and "rules" much quicker
>if we put some computers to work for us. Does anyone know of a
>organization or publication that is dedicated to such an undertaking?
This is, of course, not an answer to the question but an expression of
opinion about what seems to me to underly the question. Computer technology
enables us to put theories to the test much more quickly than the
old-fashioned collection of data by entering instances onto catalog cards,
but I don't think it alters fundamental research methodology: data are
gathered, partly in view of a theoretical basis for question-asking; once
gathered, the data may suggest that the wrong question has been asked or
that a radically different theory may be more fruitful in data-gathering
and analysis. But I don't think that we can say computers raise the
grammatical questions or create theoretical foundations for analysis of the
data.
If there is going to be a discussion of this topic, I hope that we can keep
it reasonably clearly focused upon linguistic approaches to and analysis of
Biblical Greek grammar rather than upon broader issues of epistemology and
linguistic theory.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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