Klaas Bentein | Ghent University (original) (raw)

Papers by Klaas Bentein

Research paper thumbnail of The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams Project: Principles, Challenges, Opportunities

Journal of Data Mining & Digital Humanities

This paper presents an overview of the history, conceptualization, and development of the Databas... more This paper presents an overview of the history, conceptualization, and development of the Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams, an ongoing research project hosted at Ghent University. It also offers a glimpse into current and future research threads carried out within the project, with an eye on long-term sustainability. The first part of the paper pinpoints the position of DBBE within the broad field of Digital Humanities and addresses the question of how and why Byzantine metrical paratexts have been collected in an open-access online database. In the second part of the article, we describe the main features of the relational database currently available, both from the perspective of its users and from a technical point of view. The third section of the paper includes the description of four subprojects connected to DBBE, which at present involve the development of a graph database complementary to the relational one, the implementation of natural language pre-processing applied to...

Research paper thumbnail of Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and late antique Egypt : outline of a new research programme

In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his ... more In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his project EVWRIT: Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt: A socio-semiotic study of communicative variation. In what follows, the research goals, methodology, and corpus of this new project are briefly outlined. 1

Research paper thumbnail of Novel Perspectives on Communication Practices in Antiquity

After describing the Work in progress "Lexicographie papyrologique de la culture matérielle", whi... more After describing the Work in progress "Lexicographie papyrologique de la culture matérielle", which is included in the Project by IFAO, and it is organized by Jean-Luc Fournet and myself, I'll present some words from latin derivation, refering clothing names, especially mantles and overcoats, which are frequently attested in documentary papyri. I'll analize their etymology and which kind of dress they refer to. This case study may illustrate how ϲημεῖα (the words) are able to explain open connections between the object (the dress), its utilisation and the society they represent in Graeco-Roman Egypt.

Research paper thumbnail of Aspectual choice with <em>υerba dicendi</em> in Herodotus’ <em>Histories</em>

Emerita, 2015

Elección aspectual con υerba dicendi en las Historias de Heródoto I discuss the factors that moti... more Elección aspectual con υerba dicendi en las Historias de Heródoto I discuss the factors that motivate the choice for the aorist versus imperfect tense with υerba dicendi in Ancient Greek. I argue that the textual dimension plays a particularly important role, and that two subdimensions must be taken into account: (a) whether the author wishes to draw explicit attention to what is said; (b) whether a reaction can be expected by the speaker (and by extension the reader). I frame my observations within a larger theory of aspect in Ancient Greek, which takes into account-next to the textual dimension-two other major dimensions, called the «ideational» and the «interpersonal» dimension. The analysis concentrates on the eighth book of Herodotus' Histories.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Epigrams in Honor of the Church Fathers: Some Inedita from the Eleventh Century

Greek, Roman, and …, 2009

YZANTINE GOSPELS, psalteria, menologia, and other re-ligious books abound with epigrams that only... more YZANTINE GOSPELS, psalteria, menologia, and other re-ligious books abound with epigrams that only seldom receive separate treatment. These epigrams, conveni-ently called “book epigrams,” are poetic pieces introduced by the scribe as a supplement to the main text of ...

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. P.Herm. 6 (IV n. Chr.): Brief van Besodorus aan Theophanes. In: B. Verhelst & T. Scheijnen (eds.), Parels in Schrift : Huldeboek Voor Marc De Groote. Gent: Skribis. 52.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. Dimensions of social meaning in Post-classical Greek: Towards an integrated approach. Journal of Greek Linguistics 19.

Especially in the first half of the twentieth century, language was viewed as a vehicle for the t... more Especially in the first half of the twentieth century, language was viewed as a vehicle for the transmission of facts and ideas.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. Deictic shifting in Greek contractual writing. Philologus.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. The syntax of δέ in Post-classical Greek. Les études classiques.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. The distinctiveness of syntax for varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek. Linguistic ‘upgrading’ from the third century BC to the tenth century AD. In: K. Bentein & M. Janse (eds.), Varieties of Post-classical & Byzantine Greek. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. & M. Janse. 2019. Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Novel questions and approaches. In: K. Bentein & M. Janse (eds.), Varieties of Post-classical & Byzantine Greek. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. Expressing lineage in Roman and Late Antique petitions and contracts: A variationist perspective. The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 48, 1-35.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. & M. Bagriacik. 2018. On the third type of relative clause in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek. Transactions of the Philological Society 116, 529-554.

It has been claimed that Archaic and Classical Greek had two main types of headed relative clause... more It has been claimed that Archaic and Classical Greek had two main types of headed relative clauses: (i) postnominal externally headed relative clauses, and (ii) internally headed relative clauses (Perna 2013a, b;. In this article, we take a closer look at the semantic and syntactic properties of the second category in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek (I-VIII AD). Analysing a corpus of documentary texts, we show that a good deal of the examples in this period do not correspond to the established properties of internally headed relative clauses in the history of Greek. This leads us to propose that at least some examples that are apparently internally headed should be revised as a third relative clause type, namely prenominal externally headed relative clauses. We hypothesise that such examples came into existence through form-function reanalysis of internally headed relative clauses, a process which we suggest took place already in the Classical period (V-IV BC). In the last part of our article, we investigate the motivation for the choice of internally headed and prenominal externally headed relative clauses over the postnominal ones: we show that such examples occur strikingly frequently in formal texts such as contracts, petitions and formal letters. We propose that in such texts, internally headed and prenominal externally headed relative clauses, which are syntactically more complex, function as 'transparent signifiers' , serving as a marker of a higher social level.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. Social identity, social meaning, and the dynamics of everyday writing in Roman and Late Antique Egypt. CHS Research Bulletin 6 (available online at http://www.chs-fellows.org/2018/04/30/report-everyday-writing-in-egypt/).

Research paper thumbnail of Everyday Writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt. Outline of a new research programme

COMSt Bulletin, 2019

In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his ... more In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his project EVWRIT: Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt: A socio-semiotic study of communicative variation. In what follows, we briefly outline the corpus, research goals, and methodology of this new project.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. Historical sociolinguistics: how and why? Some observations from Greek documentary papyri. Aion.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. The loss of infinitival complementation in Ancient Greek: A case of diachronic ambiguity resolution? Glotta 94, 82-118.

Research paper thumbnail of Bλήμενος ἦν (Iliad 4.211): Lexical or Periphrastic?

Symbolae Osloenses, 2017

In this article, we consider whether the form βλήμενος ἦν in Il. 4.211 should be considered lexic... more In this article, we consider whether the form βλήμενος ἦν in Il. 4.211 should be considered lexical or periphrastic. Based on a discussion of the context, an analysis of the usage of the verb βάλλω elsewhere in the Iliad, and an application of some generally accepted criteria of periphrasticity, we conclude that both interpretations are in fact possible. We connect this to the diachronic development of periphrastic constructions, which, in an early stage of grammaticalization, are often ambiguous.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2017. Finite versus non-finite complementation in Post-classical and Byzantine Greek. Towards a pragmatic restructuring of the complementation system? Journal of Greek Linguistics 17, 3-36.

While Classical Greek has a particularly rich complementation system, in later times there is a t... more While Classical Greek has a particularly rich complementation system, in later times there is a tendency towards the use of finite complementation. In this context, has claimed that the Classical opposition whereby the accusative and infinitive is used for non-factive complements, and ὅτι with the indicative and the accusative and participle for factive ones, is disappearing, ὅτι being used as a 'generic' complementiser. In this article, I investigate to what extent claim of the pragmatic neutralisation of complementation patterns can be upheld, and whether it could be claimed that a new pragmatic opposition, in terms of 'register' , is being established. For this purpose, I turn towards documentary papyri, a corpus which is particularly fruitful for socio-historical investigations.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2017. διά as a polysemous preposition in Early Byzantine Greek. ‘Dead ends’ and other uses in the Qurrah archive (VIII AD). Symbolae Osloenses 91, 1-25.

Research paper thumbnail of The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams Project: Principles, Challenges, Opportunities

Journal of Data Mining & Digital Humanities

This paper presents an overview of the history, conceptualization, and development of the Databas... more This paper presents an overview of the history, conceptualization, and development of the Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams, an ongoing research project hosted at Ghent University. It also offers a glimpse into current and future research threads carried out within the project, with an eye on long-term sustainability. The first part of the paper pinpoints the position of DBBE within the broad field of Digital Humanities and addresses the question of how and why Byzantine metrical paratexts have been collected in an open-access online database. In the second part of the article, we describe the main features of the relational database currently available, both from the perspective of its users and from a technical point of view. The third section of the paper includes the description of four subprojects connected to DBBE, which at present involve the development of a graph database complementary to the relational one, the implementation of natural language pre-processing applied to...

Research paper thumbnail of Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and late antique Egypt : outline of a new research programme

In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his ... more In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his project EVWRIT: Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt: A socio-semiotic study of communicative variation. In what follows, the research goals, methodology, and corpus of this new project are briefly outlined. 1

Research paper thumbnail of Novel Perspectives on Communication Practices in Antiquity

After describing the Work in progress "Lexicographie papyrologique de la culture matérielle", whi... more After describing the Work in progress "Lexicographie papyrologique de la culture matérielle", which is included in the Project by IFAO, and it is organized by Jean-Luc Fournet and myself, I'll present some words from latin derivation, refering clothing names, especially mantles and overcoats, which are frequently attested in documentary papyri. I'll analize their etymology and which kind of dress they refer to. This case study may illustrate how ϲημεῖα (the words) are able to explain open connections between the object (the dress), its utilisation and the society they represent in Graeco-Roman Egypt.

Research paper thumbnail of Aspectual choice with <em>υerba dicendi</em> in Herodotus’ <em>Histories</em>

Emerita, 2015

Elección aspectual con υerba dicendi en las Historias de Heródoto I discuss the factors that moti... more Elección aspectual con υerba dicendi en las Historias de Heródoto I discuss the factors that motivate the choice for the aorist versus imperfect tense with υerba dicendi in Ancient Greek. I argue that the textual dimension plays a particularly important role, and that two subdimensions must be taken into account: (a) whether the author wishes to draw explicit attention to what is said; (b) whether a reaction can be expected by the speaker (and by extension the reader). I frame my observations within a larger theory of aspect in Ancient Greek, which takes into account-next to the textual dimension-two other major dimensions, called the «ideational» and the «interpersonal» dimension. The analysis concentrates on the eighth book of Herodotus' Histories.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Epigrams in Honor of the Church Fathers: Some Inedita from the Eleventh Century

Greek, Roman, and …, 2009

YZANTINE GOSPELS, psalteria, menologia, and other re-ligious books abound with epigrams that only... more YZANTINE GOSPELS, psalteria, menologia, and other re-ligious books abound with epigrams that only seldom receive separate treatment. These epigrams, conveni-ently called “book epigrams,” are poetic pieces introduced by the scribe as a supplement to the main text of ...

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. P.Herm. 6 (IV n. Chr.): Brief van Besodorus aan Theophanes. In: B. Verhelst & T. Scheijnen (eds.), Parels in Schrift : Huldeboek Voor Marc De Groote. Gent: Skribis. 52.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. Dimensions of social meaning in Post-classical Greek: Towards an integrated approach. Journal of Greek Linguistics 19.

Especially in the first half of the twentieth century, language was viewed as a vehicle for the t... more Especially in the first half of the twentieth century, language was viewed as a vehicle for the transmission of facts and ideas.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. Deictic shifting in Greek contractual writing. Philologus.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. The syntax of δέ in Post-classical Greek. Les études classiques.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2019. The distinctiveness of syntax for varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek. Linguistic ‘upgrading’ from the third century BC to the tenth century AD. In: K. Bentein & M. Janse (eds.), Varieties of Post-classical & Byzantine Greek. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. & M. Janse. 2019. Varieties of Post-classical and Byzantine Greek: Novel questions and approaches. In: K. Bentein & M. Janse (eds.), Varieties of Post-classical & Byzantine Greek. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. Expressing lineage in Roman and Late Antique petitions and contracts: A variationist perspective. The Journal of Juristic Papyrology 48, 1-35.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. & M. Bagriacik. 2018. On the third type of relative clause in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek. Transactions of the Philological Society 116, 529-554.

It has been claimed that Archaic and Classical Greek had two main types of headed relative clause... more It has been claimed that Archaic and Classical Greek had two main types of headed relative clauses: (i) postnominal externally headed relative clauses, and (ii) internally headed relative clauses (Perna 2013a, b;. In this article, we take a closer look at the semantic and syntactic properties of the second category in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek (I-VIII AD). Analysing a corpus of documentary texts, we show that a good deal of the examples in this period do not correspond to the established properties of internally headed relative clauses in the history of Greek. This leads us to propose that at least some examples that are apparently internally headed should be revised as a third relative clause type, namely prenominal externally headed relative clauses. We hypothesise that such examples came into existence through form-function reanalysis of internally headed relative clauses, a process which we suggest took place already in the Classical period (V-IV BC). In the last part of our article, we investigate the motivation for the choice of internally headed and prenominal externally headed relative clauses over the postnominal ones: we show that such examples occur strikingly frequently in formal texts such as contracts, petitions and formal letters. We propose that in such texts, internally headed and prenominal externally headed relative clauses, which are syntactically more complex, function as 'transparent signifiers' , serving as a marker of a higher social level.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. Social identity, social meaning, and the dynamics of everyday writing in Roman and Late Antique Egypt. CHS Research Bulletin 6 (available online at http://www.chs-fellows.org/2018/04/30/report-everyday-writing-in-egypt/).

Research paper thumbnail of Everyday Writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt. Outline of a new research programme

COMSt Bulletin, 2019

In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his ... more In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his project EVWRIT: Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt: A socio-semiotic study of communicative variation. In what follows, we briefly outline the corpus, research goals, and methodology of this new project.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. Historical sociolinguistics: how and why? Some observations from Greek documentary papyri. Aion.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2018. The loss of infinitival complementation in Ancient Greek: A case of diachronic ambiguity resolution? Glotta 94, 82-118.

Research paper thumbnail of Bλήμενος ἦν (Iliad 4.211): Lexical or Periphrastic?

Symbolae Osloenses, 2017

In this article, we consider whether the form βλήμενος ἦν in Il. 4.211 should be considered lexic... more In this article, we consider whether the form βλήμενος ἦν in Il. 4.211 should be considered lexical or periphrastic. Based on a discussion of the context, an analysis of the usage of the verb βάλλω elsewhere in the Iliad, and an application of some generally accepted criteria of periphrasticity, we conclude that both interpretations are in fact possible. We connect this to the diachronic development of periphrastic constructions, which, in an early stage of grammaticalization, are often ambiguous.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2017. Finite versus non-finite complementation in Post-classical and Byzantine Greek. Towards a pragmatic restructuring of the complementation system? Journal of Greek Linguistics 17, 3-36.

While Classical Greek has a particularly rich complementation system, in later times there is a t... more While Classical Greek has a particularly rich complementation system, in later times there is a tendency towards the use of finite complementation. In this context, has claimed that the Classical opposition whereby the accusative and infinitive is used for non-factive complements, and ὅτι with the indicative and the accusative and participle for factive ones, is disappearing, ὅτι being used as a 'generic' complementiser. In this article, I investigate to what extent claim of the pragmatic neutralisation of complementation patterns can be upheld, and whether it could be claimed that a new pragmatic opposition, in terms of 'register' , is being established. For this purpose, I turn towards documentary papyri, a corpus which is particularly fruitful for socio-historical investigations.

Research paper thumbnail of Bentein, K. 2017. διά as a polysemous preposition in Early Byzantine Greek. ‘Dead ends’ and other uses in the Qurrah archive (VIII AD). Symbolae Osloenses 91, 1-25.

Research paper thumbnail of Language and Society: Historical Sociolinguistic Patterns in Medieval Greek

23 International Congress of Byzantine Studies – Belgrade A Round Table convened by Andrea M. CUO... more 23 International Congress of Byzantine Studies – Belgrade
A Round Table convened by Andrea M. CUOMO (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) and Niels GAUL (The University of Edinburgh)

Thursday, August 25, 2016 – 5pm [hier link to the program, please: http://byz2016.rs/program-2/?lang=en]

This Round Table will look into methodological issues concerning historical sociolinguistics (HSL) as a discipline, and illustrate how to conduct HSL inquiries by discussing case studies from the corpus of documentary and literary texts written in Medieval Greek.

Research paper thumbnail of Language and Society: Historical Sociolinguistic Patterns in Medieval Greek

A Round Table, convened by Andrea M. CUOMO (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) and Niels GAUL ... more A Round Table, convened by Andrea M. CUOMO (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) and Niels GAUL (The University of Edinburgh) – 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies – Belgrade 2016

Our Round Table will look into methodological issues concerning historical sociolinguistics (HSL) as a discipline, and illustrate how to conduct HSL inquiries by discussing case studies from the corpus of documentary and literary texts written in Medieval Greek.