[B-Greek] Tenses, Aspect or both or not at all
Bryant J. Williams III
bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Fri May 20 01:53:17 EDT 2011
Dear List,
I have changed the subject line to reflect the unasked question.
It seems to me that Porter's view of no tense, but Aspect Only is a flanking
maneuver around the Tense question. Let's face it square on. The Greek Verb has
Present, Imperfect, Aorist, Perfect, Pluperfect and Future Tenses. Now, the
question arises, "If the there is only Aspect Only, then why does the Greek Verb
have tense endings?" "What was the purpose of the Tense endings?" The tense
endings were not just put there for no reason at all. So, it stands to reason,
that the tense endings had to have some function. Until we get those questions
answered correctly, then the idea of Aspect is really vague to a lot of us; even
to those who have studied linguistics. It just may require us to go back to
square one to answer the questions. This is what Carl, and others have done with
Voice on this list and is, finally, beginning to pay off. It means that we have
to get the terminology correct the first time including providing the examples
from a Semantic and Pragmatic point of view.
I have worked in construction, sales and have been preaching for the past 38
years. I have said time and again, "Do it right the first time and save time,
effort and money in the long run." We need to do this with Greek. It will
involve visiting Classical Greek, Septuagint, Koine (both papyri, NT and
Apostolic Fathers. I think that the members of B-Greek are very much able to do
this.
En Xristwi,
Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message -----
From: "Randall Buth" <randallbuth at gmail.com>
To: "Sarah J. Blake" <sarah at growingstrong.org>
Cc: <bvabasciano at gmail.com>; "Louis Sorenson" <llsorenson at hotmail.com>; "B-Greek
List mail to all" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] An Accessible Brief Introduction to Greek VerbalAspect
> On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 6:44 AM, Sarah J. Blake <sarah at growingstrong.org>
wrote:
> > Does anyone have opinions on Porter and Carson, Biblical Greek Language and
> > Linguistics: Open Questions and Current Research (JSNT 80)?
>
> Yes. Look at the editors.
> Looks like a trojan horse. (Want to add a word or a paper, Steve?)
>
> For a balanced view 'aspect-only' should have been labelled
> a non-Greek, non-viable view, not a point for research. That
> some people follow it twenty years later does not speak well
> for our field.
> Fanning, by the way, was fine, and is where discussion and
> research should have been following. In a sense, it is where
> the majority is, they have been less prolix.
>
> Louis asked about the last 200 years. Nobody has been
> 'aspect-only' in the past 2000 years until Porter twenty
> years ago. Nor will they be in another generation, if they
> know Greek.
>
> I really do not think that people who communicate
> with each other in ancient Greek and who immerse themselves
> in the sources will be enamoured with 'aspect-only'.
>
> Randall Buth
>
> > Sarah J. Blake
>
>
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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