[B-Greek] Questions about NT verbal aspect

LuisCReyes at aol.com LuisCReyes at aol.com
Mon Jan 15 14:17:22 EST 2007


 
Hello, I have a few questions for anyone informed on NT verbal aspect.  
Porter defines aspect as follows:  
"In Greek, verbal aspect is  defined as a semantic (meaning) category by 
which a speaker or writer  gramaticalizes (i.e. represents a meaning by a choice 
of a word-form) a  perspective on an action by the selection of a particular 
tense-form in the  verbal system (Stanley Porter, Idioms of  the Greek New 
Testament, Second Edition, Sheffield: JSOT, 1992,  pps. 20-21). 
>From my understanding, there are various  ways that information can be 
transmitted: (a) accidental information transmission  (in speaking, we may 
accidentally  convey information we didn’t intend to convey, and thus it is not part of 
the  speaker’s meaning), (b) covert  information transmission (this involves 
a speaker’s intention, but one  which is not intended to be recognized or 
shared with an audience. Thus it does  not form part of the speaker’s intended 
meaning), and (C) overt information transmission (the  speaker makes a genuine 
attempt at sharing information, and thus intends to  convey a certain message or 
information. The speaker further not only intends to  convey this 
information, but also intends the hearer to recognize this  intention). 
Question: Since NT verbs are positioned  in a particular corpus of text and 
are a part of encoded communication (NT verbs  do not appear in isolation), for 
verbal aspect theorists, under what category  would the decoded verbal aspect 
of relevant NT verbs fall under, (a),  (b), or (c)? If the correct answer is 
(c) then I assume that to verbal aspect  theorists, the decoded verbal aspect 
is considered to be a part of the speaker’s  intended meaning each and every 
time  verbal aspect is decoded from its linguistic form. Is this correct?  
Question: Is decoded verbal aspect considered to be a  reflection of the 
original speaker’s formulation of a particular conceptualization? In other words, 
is it  safe to assume that the decoded verbal aspect signalled a part of a 
particular  concept to the original speaker? 
Thank you 
Luis C.  Reyes



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