[B-Greek] word order 1Jo 2.8
R Yochanan Bitan Buth
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Thu Jun 2 05:28:36 EDT 2005
Shalom George,
Thank you for the observation and implied question. There is some
implied information in the overall analysis that may help put us on
the same page.
1) putting an element in front of a verb, by itself, is not a function
and doesn't explain what it is doing or how it got there. Even if the
item occurs before the verb 100% of the time it still doesn't explain
its function, nor does it imply that there is only one function. For
example, in discussing Helma Dik's Word Order, one must note that two
separate functions are involved, "Topic" and "Focus". While "Focus" is
somewhat transparent in plain-vanilla English (though one must
remember that it invovles syntactic/pragmatic marking), "Topic" is
not. It does not refer only to a 'broad subject', or 'assumed
information', it can provide a new setting, a comparison, or any kind
of material that is chosen and marked to serve as a contextual point
of reference. In most languages, whenever and if two special marked
items would occur in a clause, one would expect a natural order of
Topic then Focus. Greek is actually special in this regard in that it
sometimes allows (but does not demand!) Focal items to be placed in
front of Topical items.
2) in order to use a language, one must generate any and every
individual instance. Statistics are not part of a grammar. If less
than 100% they do not place an item in any one position while it is
being generated from the brain to speech/output. (But statistics are
useful for documenting dialect, genre, and historical drift.) How does
this apply to HDH 'already' in Greek? Compare Matthew 3:10 with
Matthew 14:15.
Matt 3:10 HDH DE H AKSINH PROS THN RIZAN TWN DENDRWN KEITAI
Already and the axe to the root of the trees is placed/lies
Matt 14:15 H WRA HDH PARHELQEN
The hour already has passed
In both sentences HDH is in front of the verb. Those like Dik or
myself would read that as 'marking', but the real question is how did
HDH get to exactly where it is in each sentence? Statistics do not
dictate 3:10 versus 14:15. Functions do. I read HDH in 3:10 as
providing a setting, as not being the salient main point of the
sentence. In Dik's terms that is "Topic". (So is AKSINH, though PROS
THN RIZAN TWN DENDRWN is a viable candidate for a Focus reading.
Please note, multiple readings are possible and a grammar should be
able to account for them, too. In Mt 3:10 it would be possible to read
HDH as Focal. I happen to think Topical to be more probable here, in
my terminology, a Contextualization, a Link.) However, in 14:15 I read
HDH as the salient point of the sentence. It is Focus. What kind? It
is adding pressure and a 'crisis' to a contextual implication from the
previous sentence. And in 14:15 HDH is not first in its clause and is
after a Topicalized subject.
Back to statistics. Notice that is Matthew 14:15 'the hour' is first
in the sentence, not HDH. The author had to choose between the two
and/or the verb. Statistics do not control him nor do they help the
reader 'unpack' the clause. 'Hour' is best read as a 'Topic', we need
to explain how it got in front of HDH. HDH can naturally be read as
most salient and a Focus function would then explain its fronting to
the verb 'passed'. Please note, its order was not syntactically fixed
like DE 'and'. Compare Luke 23:44 HN HDH 'it was already ...' and
24:29 KEKLINEN HDH H HMERA 'inclined down already the day' (Acts 27:9,
too). Not to menttion 1 Jo 4:3 KAI NUN EN TW KOSMW ESTIN HDH.
The point is that a speaker and a listener need to evaulate the
specific placement of each item. In Greek, syntax alone does not
dictate this order, but pragmatic functions interact with syntactic
functions in generating a clause, sentence and discourse. Yes, there
are semantic functions, too. Iver's point about EINAI and EXEIN is
well taken, Greek has a strong tendency to mark the complements of
such words that are so colorless in themselves.
Hopefully, this clarifies something of the difference between a
statistical approach to word order and a functional one.
ERRWSO
Randall Buth
Randall Buth, PhD
Director, Biblical Language Center
www.biblicalulpan.org
and Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
Hebrew University, Rothberg International School
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
On Wed, 1 Jun 2005 16:51:49 +0200 "R Yochanan Bitan Buth"
<ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il> writes:
> This is a follow-up to 1 Cor 14:8 for evaluating word order
> 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.
>
> I read 'already' as the most salient part of the second clause. It
> is neither first not last, but it is fronted before the verb.
> It is a
> marked saliency, my definition of 'Focus'. Its position between the
> syntactical subject and verb suggests that the subject is not in
> the
> default subject position but that the subject is also pragmatically
> motivated, supporting the Topicalization reading just mentioned
> above.
>
> When reading the text, I would recommend a focal intonation on
> 'already'. (Chet, you will hear it on the old MP3 I sent you.)
> While
> other readings might be possible, I think that the reading
> described
> above would be the most expected.
>
> Randall Buth
___________________
A check of appearances of the adv. HDH in the NT reveals that in
virtually 100% of the cases it appears before the verb. Therefore, it
would seem that to say that it is "fronted" is no more meaningful than
to note that the particle DE is postpositive. That's just the way it
functions.
george
gfsomsel
___________
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