[B-Greek] Re: Mark 9:33ff topic, focus

R Yochanan Bitan Buth ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Sun Jun 12 13:57:55 EDT 2005


>Chet Creider asked:
>>>/TIS MEIZWN, in final position, is clearly the focus.  
>>>Although much is sometimes claimed for final position as "emphatic" >>>in Greek, I don't have much experience with this myself
>>>and would like to know what kind of focus those of you who are more >>>familiar with this matter than I am in Greek would consider this to >>>be.  Is it marked in any way?  It may help to think of possible >>>permutations of the phrases in this last clause:
>>>a. PROS ALLHLOUS GAR DIELEXQHSAN EN TH hODWi TIS MEIZWN 
>>>b. DIELEXQHSAN GAR PROS ALLHLOUS EN TH hODWi TIS MEIZWN 
>>>c. TIS GAR MEIZWN DIELEXQHSAN PROS ALLHLOUS EN TH hODWi 
>>>    etc.
>>>Many thanks,
>>>Chet Creider>

>Randall Buth wrote in reply:
>>I read TIS MEIZWN as an independent clause, so TIS is fronted as a >>question word. Both words are ONOMASTIKH/nominative.
>>Your proposals 

[cc]
>Not proposals but 'wonderings'.

[rb]
>> of word order, a and b, strike me as valid, but c might need >>a different verb. Greek allows quoted speech to be placed before he >>said, similarly to English. But in that case the verb is usually >>something insipid like EFH he said or EIPEN he said. 
>>DIELEXQHSAN would seem to expect a post-clausal quote or indirect >>quote.>
>>...

[cc]
>Thank you for your reply. Would you tell me if the following >rephrasal so as to make sure I am understanding the answer
>to my question is correct?
>
>The fact that TIS MEIZWN is direct speech has implications for its 
>freedom of position. Although it is clearly the focus
>of the larger unit in which it is embedded, its final position is 
>normal. Hence it has no clear relevance to the question of
>whether final position in Greek can serve as a focus position.
>
>If correct, this leaves open the question of final position in Greek >as a position for focus. Does this happen in circumstances where the >focussed upon element could have occurred in 
>initial position or some preverbal position?
>
>Perhaps this isn't clear as a question. Consider (1) below and >possible 
>replies (2) and (3):
>(1) Who gave the OT reading at the 8 o'clock service?
>(2) MARY gave the OT reading (or MARY did) [where MARY indicates the 
>location of the tonic syllable in the breath group]
>(3) The OT reading was given by MARY.
>Chet Creider>

[rb]
I read the 'final position' here (3) as the natural salient position. In English one could either read it 'normally', in which case it is most important piece of information, though unmarked; 
Or alternatively as a second option, with Focal intonation, reinforcing what would have been perceived in any case.
Something like this can happen in Greek when contextualizing frontings occur ('Topic'), leaving the salient material at the end. In such a case the final point will 'feel' like a Focus, though I would not call it such syntactically. 
You also see this with other material in a language like Hebrew where a prepositional phrase will sometimes by placed either immediately after a verb and before a subject in the 'Hebrew quiet spot' for highly assumed information, or else after a subject, in order to leave the object at the end with its natural salience. 

Χαίρετε εν τῇ ἑορτῇ.  חג שבועות שמח

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





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