[B-Greek] An Accessible Brief Introduction to Greek Verbal Aspect

Stephen Baldwin stbaldwi at hotmail.com
Thu May 19 23:42:08 EDT 2011


...but is Aspect Theory not a part of this foundation? Or should I say is it not part of the debate trying to establish the foundation?
What is a verb and what does it convey seems pretty foundational to me. Now,
Dr.B:  I think I understand what you mean by foundational and I think [FWIW!!] you are correct. But you seem to be advocating an either/or approach; but I don't see how your methods/goals are mutually exclusive with looking at some of this other stuff like Aspect Theory.
Fact is, a chunk of b-greek subscribers are keen amateurs who do Greek [as far as we can claim to do it at all] for fun -- per Mr. Lightman's dictum!
Perhaps some of the problems we have communicating on b-greek is the rather wide scope of the audience, greekly-speaking. And the particular areas of interest and expertise are also very diverse.
As a bumbling minnow, I personally got very discouraged with the abrupt put-downs on this and that subject till I decided to ignore it and keep going anyway.
I bought and read Con Campbell's book and am very glad I did.
Finally someone who wanted to communicate something!
Did he turn me into an expert? Of course not! [He didn't try].
Do his theories hold water? Perhaps, perhaps not. I am not in a position to adjudicate.
Is it the final word on the subject? No -- and he never ever claims that it is -- in fact, in the book he emphasises the open nature of the debate and what his own views are.
Did he sketch an outline of the basic issues and terminology in the debate? Yes he did, and I am more informed now than I was before I read it. I can begin to make some sense as to what the debate is about, and to form some views on Dr. Campbell's views.
And I don't see the problem in looking into this stuff whilst also aspiring to practise the "real life" stuff that you so passionately advocate, [and towards which I also aspire!!]

Just some thoughts

Cordially
Steve Baldwin

stbaldwi at hotmail.com






----------------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 00:18:27 +0300
> From: randallbuth at gmail.com
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [B-Greek] An Accessible Brief Introduction to Greek Verbal Aspect
>
> >It's not a question at this point about recommending something for the best
> understanding of Greek grammar, but for a basic, accessible introduction to
> the aspect only/Porterite view.>
>
> Fine. Then quote published sources.
> If you want to recommend the article you are free to do so.
> I mentioned the order in which students should be introduced to Porterite
> views--after they have a foundation in Greek and after they know
> some correct metalanguage.
>
> I would ask--does presenting the article encourage students to learn Greek
> and to increase their fluency? Or does it push Greek farther away
> from the students, as something out of reach of ordinary folk?
> Beginning students can be pretty intimidated if they think that their
> teachers don't know how to say
> "I walked to the store"
> EBADISA EIS TO KAPHLEION.
> and are told φλυαρια FLYARIA that they might be saying:
> "I will go to the store."
>
>
> Οriginally the article was referenced as
> >an accessible brief introduction to Greek verbal aspect and debate about it,
>
> I think its a bad introduction to Greek verbal aspect and "debate" about it.
> I've explained why previously.
> So I don't recommend it to students. They need to learn Greek.
>
> Banks teach tellers about recognizing counterfeit bills by having them process
> 'clean' bills first.
>
> Greek students should first experience good Greek in proper context.
> We probably don't give them enough of it.
>
> If a linguistic metalanguage is presented, let it be helpful.
>
> Randall Buth
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
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