[B-Greek] Questions about NT verbal aspect
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Thu Jan 18 13:15:30 EST 2007
Two items in the thread struck me
1. Wheeler's comment "except for some of the interaction with certain "way out there" linguistic theories at the beginning...and who knows what
those folks are talking about anyway ???)."
2. Wilkins observation that the conversation regarding aspect and Aktionsart was like trying to nail jello to a tree.
Quite frankly, I'm rather sceptical regarding the pronouncements of linguists. For people who supposedly are interested in the process of communication, they fail miserably in the practice of the very thing they profess to study. Does someone know why "simple past", "past progressive", "past perfect" and their present or future counterparts are not satisfactory? It seems to me that most of the confusion regarding the understanding of "tenses" results from an attempt to impose the aspect (simple, progressive or perfective) on reality rather than understanding it as the manner in which the speaker / writer viewed the event.
george
gfsomsel
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: James Tauber <jtauber at jtauber.com>
To: Biblical Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:38:29 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Questions about NT verbal aspect
Incidentally, there is a good thread from back in 1997 that touches
on some of the confusion:
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/test-archives/html4/1997-04/18803.html
Bottom line is that grammarians like ATR *don't* use Aktionsart to
mean just lexical aspect. Perhaps that's what you were alluding to,
Jonathan.
One thing is clear. There is a useful three-way distinction one can
make in general:
1. lexical aspect
2. grammatical aspect
3. tense
"Aktionsart", when used in modern linguistics, always means 1 in my
experience.
James
On 18/01/2007, at 12:29 PM, James Tauber wrote:
>
> On 18/01/2007, at 11:58 AM, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>> [...]
>> Whether you prefer to say "kind of action", Aktionsart, or aspect,
>> you
>> also have to figure out the relationship between time and aspect, and
>> how these relate to the forms a verb can take.
>
>
> Good post, Jonathan.
>
> Just one point: Aktionsart isn't quite the same as aspect. When one
> talks about the aspect of different forms of a verb, they are talking
> about *grammatical aspect*. Aktionsart, on the other hand, is
> *lexical aspect*; in other words, the time structure inherent to the
> lexeme, regardless of form.
>
> When you contrast:
>
> (1) I walked to the store.
> (2) I was walking to the store.
>
> you are contrasting grammatical aspect (perfective versus
> imperfective) in one lexeme.
>
> On the other hand, Aktionsart (i.e. lexical aspect) makes contrasts
> between lexemes: e.g. achievements versus accomplishments versus
> activities.
>
>
> James Tauber
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
---
B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
B-Greek mailing list
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
____________________________________________________________________________________
Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know.
Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list