Studies in tense, aspect and augment use: an unrecognised (?) timeless injunctive in Early Epic Greek. Part 1: status quaestionis on the use of injunctive, augment and aspect. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 2022
In epic Greek both the optative and the indicative (the so-called “modal indicative”) can be used in contexts where the degree of realization is uncertain or even impossible, while in Attic Greek only the indicative is used. In these two articles I discuss whether there is a difference between the optative and the modal indicative in these contexts and/or if it can be determined which was the original mood. As there are about 1500 optatives and 250 modal indicatives in Homer, it is not possible to discuss them all and, therefore, I focus on the passages in which aorist forms of γιγνώσκω, βάλλω and of ἴδον appear, and those conditional constructions in the Odyssey in which the postposed conditional clause is introduced by εἰ μή with either a “modal” indicative or optative. The corpus comprises 100 forms (80 optatives and 20 indicatives), but in each example I also address the other modal indicatives and optatives in the passages, which adds another 50 forms to the corpus. In this part (part 1) I address the optative. First, I provide an overview of the research on the optative in Homeric Greek, discuss the different suggestions for the co-existence of the optative and indicative in these uncertain and/or unreal contexts, explanations which can be summarized into two categories, those assuming that the indicative replaced the optative and those arguing that both moods were original, but had different meanings. Then I explain why this corpus was chosen, prior to the analysis that focuses on two elements, namely the temporal reference (does the mood refer to the past or not) and the degree of possibility (is the action described likely, pos¬sible, remotely possible or unlikely/impossible). Initially I consider the optatives with a past reference, then the optatives that could be interpreted as remotely possible or unlikely/impossible (“irrealis” in the terminology of Classical Philology) and conclude by discussing two passages that have been reused in the epics in different contexts with different protagonists and, consequently, with different modal meanings for the same forms. The conclusion of the first part of the article is that the optative was at the most unreal extreme of the irrealis-continuum and could initially refer to the present and future, as well as the past, but that the instances in which there was an exclusive past reference were (very) rare.
From Mood to Aspect: Grammaticalisation Theory and the Greek ʻAorist Subjunctive
2018
The paper discusses some of the properties of the Modern Greek verb form which has developed out of the Classical 'aorist subjunctive'. It is seen that the crucial property that has changed over time concerns the ability of this form to function as main verb and its overall 'dependent' status in Modern Greek. Such a development could be seen as the expected result of the greater degree of grammaticalisation of a subordinating mood marker in the sense of Bybee et al. 1994. However, on the assumption that Modern Greek lacks the feature [subjunctive] at the level of verbal morphology, and that the relevant forms are best described in terms of the category of Aspect, the question is raised whether the semantics of this particular form has motivated its present function independently, as the combination of the features [-past] and [+perfective] can itself account for the distribution of the relevant forms synchronically. It is therefore suggested that the semantics of Asp...
(EX.01) 2 (633) τῶν δ' ὥς τε δρυτόμων ἀνδρῶν ὀρυμαγδὸς ὀρώρει (634) οὔρεος ἐν βήσσῃς, ἕκαθεν δέ τε γίνετ' ἀκουή, (635) ὣς τῶν ὤρνυτο δοῦπος ἀπὸ χθονὸς εὐρυοδείης (636) χαλκοῦ τε ῥινοῦ τε βοῶν τ' εὐποιητάων, (637) νυσσομένων ξίφεσίν τε καὶ ἔγχεσιν ἀμφιγύοισιν. (638) οὐδ' ἂν ἔτι φράδμων περ ἀνὴρ Σαρπηδόνα δῖον (639) ἔγνω, ἐπεὶ βελέεσσι καὶ αἵματι καὶ κονίῃσιν (640) ἐκ κεφαλῆς εἴλυτο διαμπερὲς ἐς πόδας ἄκρους. (Iliad 16,633-640) 3 'As when a loud thundering noise of oak-cutters rises out of the mountain glens and from far it can be heard, so a loud battle din was rising from the earth with its wide streets, from (the clashing of) the bronze and of the oxhide shields, made of wellwrought oxhides, that were being stabbed against by swords and double-pointed spears. Not even a clever man could recognize / have recognized shining Sarpedon, as he was covered with missiles, blood and dust from his head to the end of his feet.'
From Mood to Aspect: Grammaticalisation Theory and the Greek ʻAorist Subjunctiveʼ
Selected papers on theoretical and applied linguistics, 1998
The paper discuss es some of the prope rties of the Modern Greek verb f orm which has developed out ofthe Classical 'aorist subj unctive '. It is seen that the crucial property that has changed over time concerns the ability of this fo rm to fun ction as main verb and its overall 'dep endent ' status in Modem Greek Such a develop ment could be seen as the expected result of the greater degree of gramm ancalisation of a subordinating mood marker in the sense of Bybe e et aJ. 1994. However, on the assumption that Modern Greek lacks the feature {subj unctive] at the level of verbal morphology, and that the relevant fo rms are best described in terms ofthe category ofAspect, the question is raised whether the semantics of this particular for m has motivated its p resent f unction independently, as the combination of the features {-past] and [wperfective] can itself account fo r the distribution of the relevant fo rms synchronically. It is therefore suggested that the semantics of Aspect has interf ered with the development of a Mood marker in a way not predicted in the relevant gra mmancalisation paths.
UCLA Dissertation, 2021
Though Greek and Sanskrit possess clearly cognate tense–aspect categories, they differ significantly with respect to the function of these categories. This dissertation investigates the usage of the Aorist and Imperfect indicative in Homeric Greek and Rigvedic Sanskrit, in order to reevaluate the functional range of both categories in each language. A qualitative and quantitative examination of the data reveals that the differences in usage between the two languages are only superficial. In Homer as in the Rigveda, the Aorist is commonly used to express perfect aspect, while the Imperfect is used to sequence events in past narration. This thesis thus further extends the findings of Hollenbaugh 2018 in proposing that the Aorist and Imperfect do not represent a perfective/imperfective system, nor can they be traced back to such a system in the proto-language, as is often assumed. Rather, they originally marked perfect aspect and a simple past tense respectively. In addition, this dissertation explores the pragmatic interactions across functional categories to explain the lack of application of certain forms in contexts with which they are semantically compatible. The differences in usage observed for the two languages are thus attributed to systematic differences in their respective verb systems overall, rather than to any particular functional innovations per se. The Vedic injunctive and Homeric augmentless forms are also considered, and an account is given of the interaction between the augment and the verbal bases with which it combines. This provides insights into why the augment and augmentless forms behave differently in the two languages in the way that they do, and suggests how each can be derived from a common source in the proto-language.
The Decline of the Aorist Infinitive in Ancient Greek Declarative Infinitive Clauses
Journal of Greek Linguistics, 2016
It seems established that infinitives used in declarative infinitive clauses (DeclarInfCl) convey relative temporality in Classical Greek, with the aorist infinitive referring to anteriority, the present infinitive to simultaneity, and the future infinitive to posteriority. In Hellenistic/Roman Greek and in Early Byzantine Greek, by comparison, DeclarInfCl do not display the same variety of infinitive forms. These periods appear to avoid the aorist infinitive while manifesting a very common use of perfect infinitives and stative present infinitives in DeclarInfCl. These tendencies stand in a complex relation to other developments in the post-Classical period. This paper accounts for what appears to be the decline of the aorist infinitive in DeclarInfCl, claiming that this phenomenon is most likely related to the perfect infinitive adopting the function of conveying anteriority in DeclarInfCl.
Some general thoughts on tense and aspect in Modern Greek
Lingua Posnaniensis, 2018
The morphological categories belonging to the semantic dimension of Tense in Modern Greek, as it is traditionally conceived, seem to be distinguished by means of non-homogeneous criteria. In this paper the temporal and aspectual meanings are treated separately. In consequence, Modern Greek has at its disposal (i) six Tenses and (ii) two Aspects. The meanings of the six Tenses are captured systemically by means of three Time-points: (i) Event Time, (ii) Reference Time and (iii) Speech Time, which are referred to each other in the order given by means of the relations of (i) previousness and (ii) simultaneity. In turn, the meanings of the two Aspects are captured by means of the notions of (i) Shortness and (ii) Longness, which are identified as the bedrock of the aspectual oppositions in Modern Greek. Other aspectual meanings such as Termination, Inchoativity, Completion, etc. are conveyed by the lexical stems of the appropriate verbs linked with the affixal markers of the two Aspects.
2022
In my presentation I intend to analyze the use and absence of the modal particle (MP) in Epic Greek. I will first provide a brief overview of existing literature on the subject. Secondly, I will determine my corpus, addressing some morphological problems (such as determining whether a form is a subjunctive aorist or future indicative) and textually disputed instances. Afterwards I will provide facts and figures for the Iliad and Odyssey per type of sentence and per tense and mood.
Tense, aspect and related textual criticism in Herodotos, Historiai 1.186
Humanitas, 2024
In this article I discuss the use of tense and aspect in Herodotos Historiai 1,186 and, related to that, the instances where both a form from the present-stem and the aorist-stem are attested. I first provide a brief overview and discussion of tense and aspect in Greek and Herodotos, briefly summarising scholarship before Hettrich 1976 and discussing in somewhat more detail Hettrich 1976, the reactions to that work (Ruijgh 1979 (and 1971), Rijksbaron 1979) and Stork (1982). As the literature on aspect (in Greek and on aspect in general) is very large, my discussion will inevitably have to leave out many studies and issues, and I can only treat the issue of the fortwirkende Handlung and the observer’s perspective, and even those only very superficially. The issue of tense, aspect, Aktionsart and their overlap cannot be discussed here. In a second step I proceed to the actual passage and discuss all the forms of the present and aorist stem (finite and non-finite forms). As is known, the transmission of Herodotos’ text often poses problems and in several instances, forms from both stems are transmitted (in two cases in 1,186, the manuscripts agree but conjectures were made). In order to decide on which variant to adopt, a detailed analysis of all the forms in the passage is offered using the distinction perfective / completed – imperfective / ongoing as guiding principle (time and space constraints prevented me from quoting the variants printed in all editions and commentaries, limiting myself to 15 in total).
Journal of the Evanglical Theological Society, 2016
Verbal systems can give prominence to tense, aspect, or mood. The morphology of the verbal system within biblical Greek provides important evidence to suggest that Greek is an aspect-prominent language, though one that also incorporates tense within the indicative mood. Certain traditional grammatical labels inappropriately treat Greek as though it were instead a tense-prominent language like English (e.g. the use of " present " or " tense formative " outside of the indicative mood). We need to reform our descriptive labels and general conception of Greek accordingly. In doing so, the simplicity and beauty of the Greek verbal system emerges, offering pedagogical advantages for teachers of Greek and challenging exegetes to properly account for Greek's particular configuration of tense, aspect, and mood.