[B-Greek] Aspect Ramblings

Richard Lindeman oblchurch at msn.com
Fri Dec 16 10:15:25 EST 2005


Why Time R?



Please correct me where I am wrong. I really do want to understand what is 
being said.  I hear two competing theories for definition of aspect:



One theory states that aspect is a switch that merely indicates 
Completed/Not Completed action for the verb as it intersects with Time R.



The second theory states that aspect is a switch that indicates 
Complete/Incomplete action for the verb as it intersects with Time R.



But it seems to me that we are mixing metaphors to describe it this way.  On 
the one hand, Completed/Not Completed is a temporal relationship.  On the 
other hand, Complete/Incomplete is a TYPE OF ACTION relationship that seems 
more like a description Aktionsart to me.



If aspect is more like aktionsart than a temporal relationship then I would 
prefer that we change the terminology for it.  Instead of saying Time R it 
would make more sense to say Action R.  Then the second definition of aspect 
would be:  "Aspect is a switch that indicates Complete/Incomplete action for 
the verb as it intersects with Action R."



But I also like the word Focus that was introduced by Rolf Furuli.  The 
biblical author is focused on something when choosing imperfective or 
perfective.  But is his focus on time or type of action?



Rich Lindeman




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