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Aorist presents and imperial attire

Hi, friends,

I'm finding lots of examples of present tense where there doesn't seem to be
any imperfective force. Here are a few examples (lots more are available
upon request):

Luke 7:8 POREUQHTI, KAI *POREUETAI* - ERXOU, KAI *ERXETAI* - POIHSON, KAI
*POIEI*
Matt 26:63 (GNT) KAI hO ARCIEREUS EIPEN AUTW: *EXORKIZW* SE KATA TOU QEOU
TOU ZWNTOS hINA hHMIN EIPHS EI SU EI hO CRISTOS hO UIOS TOU QEOU.
Acts 8:23 (GNT) EIS GAR COLHN PIKRIAS KAI SUNDESMON ADIKIAS *ORW* SE ONTA. 
Matt 5:22 (GNT) EGW DE *LEGW*

Most grammars I've read say that the present tense describes "linear
action", also known as "imperfective aspect". However, the "aorist present",
a category in both Smyth and Robertson, is "punctiliar". Robertson (p. 864
ff) does not see this as one category of usage, but as a whole class of
usage - he says that the present tense does not distinguish between "linear
and punctiliar action" (imperfective and perfective aspect, for you moderns)
since there are not two separate tenses such as the aorist and imperfect for
past action. Further, he says that modern Greek has developed forms which
*do* distinguish the two kinds of action; e.g., PAGAINW is imperfective and
means "I am going", PAGW is perfective and means "I go".

This worries me, because if present isn't really a tense (as the aspect
people argue convincingly), and it doesn't clearly identify aspect (as
Robertson argues), then I don't know what it is!

Fanning does talk about the "instantaneous present" (p. 202), where the act,
by nature of the verb, takes place in an instant, and present used for acts
of speaking which focus on the current moment, but I don't understand how
the present itself can be construed to have imperfective force for these
uses. For instance, if I say EGW DE LEGW, and LEGW were imperfective, I
would think it would mean "But I am saying", not "but I say". I don't see
that Fanning has anything at all useful to say about passages like Luke 7:8.
I also couldn't find anything helpful on this in Porter's Verbal Aspect,
though I have a hard time finding things in it (it does not have an index).

Any ideas?

Jonathan
 

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Jonathan Robie   jwrobie@mindspring.com  http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703    http://www.poet.com
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