[B-Greek] Order and Prominence
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Sun Dec 31 12:19:51 EST 2006
Order is the enemy of prominence. When a group marches down the street with everyone lined up and in step, no one is particularly prominent. It is the one who is out of line (hopefully the leader of the group) who is prominent. Similarly, when all of the words are in their normal positions none stands out as being more prominent than the others. When a band marches down the street we become accustomed to the thump -- thump -- thump of the bass drum as it marks the time by which the group regulates its step. It is when the cymbals begin to clash that we se prominence. Similarly, in a sentence when every word is in its normal place then it's just another day at the office. If, however, we decide to shove a word out of its normal order by advancing it or retarding it in the sentence, we immediately say to ourselves, "Myself, something is out of place here. This is not normal!" And you would be correct to do so. Greek is a remarkably flexible language so that it is
possible to move components of a sentence around almost at will so long as certain relationships are maintained. It does nevertheless have a certain basic order in which words occur. Prominence is gained when a word or phrase appears OUTSIDE ITS NORMAL POSITION WHETHER TO THE LEFT OR TO THE RIGHT. So, how do we know when something is out of order? Do we run statistics and count the position of each word in the sentence? No. Language is much like music. If you are familiar with a style of music, even though you may never have heard a particular piece before, you will say after a few notes "I know what is coming next", and it does come. It is necessary then to become familiar with the style of Greek and of various authors so that we can know what is coming next. This involves extensive reading in the language. When the normal position of a word is toward the beginning of the sentence, it cannot be shoved further forward without shoving it into the county to the
west (the previous sentence) so prominence must be gained by placing it later in the sentence. When the normal position of a word is toward the end of a sentence, it cannot be shoved further back without shoving it into the county to the east (the following sentence) so it must be made prominent by shoving it toward the beginning of the sentence. There is no left-order prominence nor is there any right-order prominence. A word does not gain more prominence the further toward the beginning of a sentence it occurs nor does it gain more prominence the further toward the end of a sentence it occurs. There is only out-of-order prominence.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
Shakespeare, _The Merchant of Venice_, Act 5, scene 1
Speech of Lorenzo
george
gfsomsel
_________
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