<color><param>0000,0000,FFFF</param>> Carl,My professor in NT Greek
classes did not conduct
> any excursions into accents at all, except to note a
> few bits and pieces about "aspirations," (not the
> ambitious-to- pass-NT-Greek kind either). I have
> always felt as though I may have missed something
> material to my understanding of the language.From
> what you seem to be saying, there is very little
> to be gained from careful study of accents when
> it comes to understanding the text. Would that be
> accurate enough a statement?
No, I think it would be going a little TOO far: I would agree that
there is relatively little to be gained from a long and intense study
of accents when it comes to understanding the text, BUT that relatively
little is more than relatively important, because ignorance of it CAN
lead to major misunderstanding of the text. However, IF the sort of
orthographical reform I suggested in my last post on this subject, or
something like it, could ever be adopted for printing the GNT, what one
needs to learn would be immeasurably simplified.
This hurdle can be exaggerated beyond its importance, but on the other
hand, as things now stand, one needs to know the basics of
accentuation. Perhaps that list of words in the GNT where accent makes
a difference would be a big help if one is unwilling to invest in
learning these basics of accentuation, but I think that the things one
really needs to know about accentuation can be boiled down to a
relatively few principles: (1) what the accents are and where they CAN
be placed; (2) how recessive accent in verbs work; and (3) how
enclitics work and what they are (listed). I really think that apart
from these three items, the other aspects of important information
affected by accents is part of learning vocabulary. If one neglects the
difference of accentuation in the interrogative and indefinite pronouns
and adverbs, one is headed for serious trouble down the road; if one
neglects the difference between relative pronouns and articles in
spelling and accentuation, one is also headed for trouble down the
road. Perhaps there are a couple other matters like this, but they need
to be learned as one is learning the vocabulary. I DON'T, on the other
hand, feel any compulsion to learn where the accents stand on all
adjectives and nouns in learning vocabulary, owing either to laziness
or judgment based upon experience that those accents RARELY have a
serious impact on the meaning of a sentence.
I hope I have not overstated or understated the importance of accents;
but I honestly do not feel that they can be neglected any more than I
feel that an exhaustive knowledge of them is an essential part of the
GNT reader's tools.
And now, I sit and wait to be attacked by grammatical traditionalists
and iconoclasts alike!
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/