[B-Greek] Aktionsart

kgraham0938 at comcast.net kgraham0938 at comcast.net
Fri Nov 18 22:22:21 EST 2005


@Craig

Hey Craig, the problem is that depending on the source you read aspect and aktionsark sometimes over lap, I don't think there is always a clear distinction.  But the way I have tried to explain the difference  between the two is this.

Aktionsart is a term that is used to describe built in information of a verb at a lexical level.  For instance take the words "clap, hammer, saw" without any context one thinks of a repetitive process.  If I used the word "blink" you think of a instantaneous action.  If I used the word "Flow" you think of a progressive process, such words have these type of actions built into them so to speak.

I usually define aspect as the type of action that is found based upon context.  For example take your imperfect tense.  Depending upon context an imperfect tense verb can be ingressive, iterative, punctilliar etc

So one is a kind of action depending upon context etc, and the other is a kind of action at the lexical level.  And of course you can see why some would go ahead and overlap the two.

By the way, I guess guys like Porter have an entirely different take on aspect all together.  But that is a different topic.
--
Kelton Graham 
KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> Wow, that definition is dense :-) 
> 
> Can someone unpack it some more for me? Maybe with examples? 
> 
> The original quote from Kelton Graham had to do with determining how much 
> aspect is understood in reading adjectival or substantive participles: "that 
> would depend on the verbs Aktionsart" 
> 
> BTW I tried to find Wallace's grammar section on participles from the NET 
> Bible site, but it seems to have been removed. Is it still available online 
> somewhere else? 
> 
> Thanks! 
> 
> -- 
> Craig Johnson 
> Brisbane, Australia 
> 
> 
> > > [from earlier post by Kelton Graham:] 
> > >> that would depend on the verbs Aktionsart from what I can tell. 
> > > 
> > > What is Aktionsart? 
> > 
> > It's not my own definition but from the neat little Matthew DeMoss 
> > _Pocket dictionary for the Study of NT Greek_: 
> > 
> > "The feature of the Greek language whereby the quasi-objective 
> > quality of the verbal action is indicated (duration, repetition, 
> > momentary occurrence, etc.), both morphologically and by 
> > *tense forms 
> > and lexico-syntactically according to contextual features. 
> > Some older 
> > grammars used the term synonymously with *aspect, pl. Aktionsarten." 
> > 
> > 
> > Carl W. Conrad 
> > Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus) 
> > 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243 
> > cwconrad2 at mac.com 
> > WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/ 
> 
> --- 
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek 
> B-Greek mailing list 
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org 
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek 


More information about the B-Greek mailing list