[B-Greek] hINA in Jn 9:3, 11:4
Steve Runge
srunge at logos.com
Wed Feb 4 23:50:12 EST 2009
Elizabeth,
I think they are making the same basic point. Diane Blakemore referred to the function as the cognitive constraint that the particle brings to bear in the context. Regina Blass of SIL has followed up on this idea in Koine. When you compare the claims and explanations made by Blass with Blakemore, it is more that just a mere coincidence of terminology. The old grammarians knew what they were looking at, even if they lacked a sophisticated framework to describe what they saw. Reject the common ground if you will, but I do not see what is to be gained by doing so.
Respectfully,
Steve Runge
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Kline
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 7:42 PM
To: greek B-Greek
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] hINA in Jn 9:3, 11:4
On Feb 4, 2009, at 4:27 PM, Steve Runge wrote:
> "Negatives, conjunctions, sentence connectors, and subordinators may
> be termed function words (Fries: 87-109) or structure signaling words
> (Roberts, 1958: 151f., 224ff.). The point of these labels is that such
> words are nearly lexically empty, i.e. they have little or no
> dictionary meaning of their own. However, they are grammatically
> significant in indicating the structure of sentences and parts of
> sentences (cf. §§001ff.). Some of them are so common as to require
> acquaintance at the grossest level of the language. This simply means
> that one must learn how they function early in the process.
> One may guess at the meaning of lexically full words, or leave them
> blank when reading (cf. §003), but one must know the grammatical
> "meaning" of function words to be able to proceed at all."
I assume Funk is quoting from Charles Carpenter Fries: The structure of English 1952. While it happens that different frameworks often sound like they are agreeing on something, the agreement often times is only superficial. The difference between Structuralism and Relevance Theory is such that a statement from Fries repeated almost verbatim in a book on Relevance Theory will have significantly different ramifications.
Thank you,
Elizabeth Kline
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