[B-Greek] Aktionsart

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Sat Nov 19 07:10:06 EST 2005


A simple but nevertheless pretty illuminating statement in the  
Wikipedia on "Aktionsart" might help to illuminate its relationship  
to and distinction from "aspect":

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktionsart

On Nov 18, 2005, at 10:22 PM, kgraham0938 at comcast.net wrote:

> @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/
>>
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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/




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