[B-Greek] word order 1Jo 2.8
Elizabeth Kline
kline-dekoning at earthlink.net
Wed Jun 1 13:00:36 EDT 2005
On 6/1/05 7:51 AM, "R Yochanan Bitan Buth" <ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il> wrote:
> OTI H SKOTIA PARAGETAI
>
> KAI TO FWS TO ALHQINON HDH FAINEI
>
>
>
> First clause has a new subject 'darkness' that I would call a
> Topicalization,
>
> that is, it is not the most salient part of the sentence but provides
> a point of reference, a point of departure.
>
>
>
> Then in the second clause we have two 'fronted' items:
>
> 'the true light' is not the most salient item of the clause but
> provides a comparative/contrastive Topicalization, a point of
> reference for its clause and a point of reference to the larger
> context.
Adopting some of Randall's terminology, the difference between
"Topicalization" and propositional topic might be illustrated by looking at
LUKE 11:49 DIA TOUTO KAI hH SOFIA TOU QEOU EIPEN:
Here the point of departure a.k.a. "Topicalization" is DIA TOUTO which
connects what follows with the preceding context. The propositional topic is
hH SOFIA TOU QEOU which is old information. We know that this is old
information both by the position in front of the verb and by the use of the
article hH. However, hH SOFIA TOU QEOU does not tie what follows with the
preceding context. Everything prior to EIPEN is fronted. The focus falls
somewhere after EIPEN.
Elizabeth Kline
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