[B-Greek] Luke 4:7
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Jun 14 04:05:18 EDT 2007
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Runge" <srunge at logos.com>
> I would say argue SU is fronted to change the topic. There are two basic reasons for fronting
> something in Greek: emphasis, and to create a marked switch of topic, time, place, condition,
> etc., to create a new frame of reference for what follows, etc.
>
> What Greek accomplishes through word order, English accomplishes using voice inflection/accent.
> Primary sentence accent is reserved for the FOCUS, i.e. the most salient information in the
> clause. Secondary accenting is used to mark the switches which establish a new frame of
> reference.
>
> I would analyze Luke 4:7 as having two topicalized constituents: one to switch the topic from hWi
> EAN QELW in v. 6, and the other to establish a condition which must be met before the main verb
> predication holds. That would make 'EVERYTHING will be yours' the point of the utterance, with
> the fronted material functioning to establish a frame of reference. Go back and track where the
> discourse has come from. I will use all caps for focus, and *XX* for topicalization.
>
> Translation:
> TO YOU I will give all this authority and their glory,
> because TO ME it has been given.
> and *to whomever I wish* I give it.
> Therefore, *you*, *if you bow down before me*, will be yours EVERYTHING (focus in it's normal
> position as close to the end of the sentence as typology allows).
I am happy to accept *you* as topicalized, if you prefer that theoretical framework.
It seems to me that you claim that TO YOU and TO ME are in focus because they are fronted. I agree.
But then you say that EVERYTHING is also in focus because it is not fronted.
I hope you can see the logical contradiction in the analysis, so that you still have time to revise
it in your paper, possibly by finding a more adequate theoretical framework and forget about
Comrie's misleading claim of universals. One thing you seem to be missing is the grammatical
hierarchy, where the phrase needs to be analysed separately from the clause and sentence. You have
also not touched on the inherent lexical focus in a word like "all". I won't go into a long
linguistic discussion on this list.
Iver Larsen
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