Discourse function of Imperfective Tense (Mark: 1:4-8)
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Dec 28 14:36:33 EST 2002
> When I read Mark chapter 1, I have noticed that after
> a sentence with aorist tense EGENETO in verse 4,
> a sequence of 6 sentences with imperfective tense follows.
> It seems that these sentences with imperfect tense describe
> situations that are customary or repeated.
> But does the verb form itself imply it?
>
> For example we have in verse 7:
>
> EKHRUSSEN LEGWN: ERCETAI .....
>
> John's preaching would have been repeated day after day.
> So, he would have said "ERCETAI.... " several times in
> different occasions. Does the imperfect verb form EKHRUSSEN
> imply this repetition?
>
> Moon
Maybe it is too restrictive to say that the imperfect in itself implies
repetition, but it does imply a descriptive mode rather than the main
story-line where aorist is the default narrative tense. I would say that the
imperfect implies an imperfective aspect which may in some contexts refer to
repetition, in other contexts to a prolonged process or to a background
description. I would be happy to accept that the imperfect in this context
does imply repetition.
Iver Larsen
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