Discourse function of Imperfective Tense (Mark: 1:4-8)
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Tue Dec 31 07:59:07 EST 2002
Hi, Alex
Thanks for some good examples of the use of aorist and imperfect and
differences with English.
Your example from
> Matthew 14:2-3 KAI *EIPEN* TOIS PAISIN AUTOU, hOUTOS ESTIN IWANNHS hO
> BAPTISTHS. AUTOS HGERQH APO TWN NEKRWN KAI DIA TOUTO hAI DUNAMEIS
> ENERGOUSIN
> EN AUTWi. hO GAR hHRWiDHS KRATHSAS TON IWANNHN **EDHSEN** [AUTON] KAI EN
> FULAKHi **APEQETO** DIA hHRWiDIADA THN GUNAIKA FILIPPOU TOU ADELFOU AUTOU
> [Herod] *said* ktl. For he **had** bound John and imprisoned him.
is a flashback where English requires a pluperfect tense. Does Greek always
use aorist to indicate flashbacks? Or maybe I should rather ask: Are
flashbacks never overtly marked in the tense system, but indicated by GAR
and context?
I would be interested in more detail about how Greek indicates flashback.
Flashbacks are also off the story-line. (The African language I am familiar
with uses a double past tense for flashback.)
You have also noted that the Greek tenses used in relative clauses are
different from English. Yes, this is a very important aspect to be aware of.
Verbs in relative clauses are never on the story-line, so different rules
apply. My feeling is that verbs in relative clauses are much more time
focused, whereas verbs on the story-line are more aspect focused, because
time reference is of less importance in the story line.
Iver Larsen
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