[B-Greek] BBG: Elementary Parsing Question Contract Verbs

Stephen Baldwin stbaldwi at hotmail.com
Wed Sep 13 10:34:56 EDT 2006


Hello Ann:
I searched BBG and MBG for the answer and found none.
But this lack of explanation is part of the problem and hence my question.
In the chapter 17, he lays out the rules for vowel contractions (EE > EI) 
and in chapter 18 section 18 (18.18) he lists the paradigms for the -AW -EW 
-OW verbs and in footnotes describes the morphology as I described (for 
P-MP-I 2s):
3: (AGAPAW) AESAI > ASAI > AAI > AI > Ai
4: (POIEW) EESAI > ESAI > EAI > HI > Hi
And looking at the footnotes it looks to me that Mounce is contracting the 
contract vowel and the connecting vowel then dropping the sigma then 
contracting the contraction and the dipthong.
It works out nicely in [3] but in footnote [4] above he contracts EE to E. 
But in the previous chapter he told us that EE contracts to EI. There is no 
explanation given for EE > E, and, having the type of mind I do, I want to 
know what is going on, whether this is just irregular, whether Mounce has 
not fully explained sthg or sthg else...
MBG failed to provide any more info.

In response to Mr. Tabuer's question
" If the ending, after intervocalic sigma drop were actually EIAI, would 
that invalidate the POIHi spelling?" I would have to answer "Don't know". I 
don't know whether EIAI even contracts and if so, what it contracts to.
But if we were to drop the sigma first and then contract first the 
connecting vowel and the first ending vowel, that to me makes more sense:
hence:
POIE + E + SAI > POIE + EAI > POIEHi > POIHi

But what do I know? I'm only a software engineer who'd rather study greek!
But the question arises because of the perceived inconsistency in BBG and my 
impression that when we have contractions,  vocalic droppings, and all the 
rest occurring simultaneously, the order in which these morphing operations 
are executed makes a difference -- hence the question regarding rules of 
precedence...
(I recognise that learning the morphology this way is slightly contrived, 
but this is what we're dealing with).

Hope this makes sense!

Rgds
Steve

Stephen Baldwin
stbaldwi at hotmail.com



>From: "Ann Nyland" <nyland at tsn.cc>
>To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>CC: "Stephen Baldwin" <stbaldwi at hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [B-Greek] BBG: Elementary Parsing Question Contract Verbs
>Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 08:19:55 +1000
>
>Hi Steve,
>Would you give a direct quote from Mounce ("but for POIEW, according to 
>Mounce, the E contract and E connecting vowel contract to E"), or a page 
>reference?
>Thanks,
>Ann Nyland
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Baldwin" <stbaldwi at hotmail.com>
>To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 5:34 AM
>Subject: [B-Greek] BBG: Elementary Parsing Question Contract Verbs
>
>
>>Ladies and Gentlemen:
>>Please forgive this elementary question.
>>But in reviewing contract verbs, I am slightly puzzled.
>>
>>AGAPAW P-MP-I 2sg is AGAPAi from AGAPA + E + SAI
>>POIEW P-MP-I 2sg is POIHi from POIE + E + SAI
>>
>>The sigma is intervocalic and will drop, leading to a veritable soup of
>>vowels.
>>
>>According to Mounce, BBG 18.18, footnotes 3 and 4 describe the morphology
>>from the addition of the connecting vowel and the ending to the final 
>>form:
>>3: (AGAPAW) AESAI > ASAI > AAI > AI > Ai
>>4: (POIEW) EESAI > ESAI > EAI > HI > Hi
>>
>>According to the above algorithm:
>>1. The contract vowel and the connecting vowel contract
>>2. The sigma drops
>>3. The final three vowels contract as a vowel+dipthong pair
>>
>>This works for AGAPAW above, but for POIEW, according to Mounce, the E
>>contract and E connecting vowel contract to E. This does not follow the
>>contract rules as I have learned them (E+E > EI). There doesn't seem to be
>>any explanation for this inconsistency (if indeed it is one).
>>
>>Have I missed something?
>>Is there an explanation? Is the above method correct? Is the EE > E merely
>>an irregular form?
>>I have searched in vain for clear precedence rules (to borrow the
>>mathematical term) when it comes to morphology such as the examples above.
>>If anyone has any guidelines, I'd be pleased to hear from you.
>>
>>Thank you for your patience
>>Steve
>>
>>Stephen Baldwin
>>stbaldwi at hotmail.com
>





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