[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
b-greek-digest V1 #590
b-greek-digest Monday, 27 February 1995 Volume 01 : Number 590
In this issue:
Re: Lord's prayer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "mpalmes@email.unc.edu" <mpalmes_email_unc_edu@access.alt.za>
Date: 25 Feb 95 15:53:45 -0200
Subject: Re: Lord's prayer
From: Micheal Palmer <mpalmes@email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Lord's prayer
On Fri, 24 Feb 1995, James D. Ernest wrote:
> Don't the aorist imperatives in 6:6 intend a habit just as surely as the
> presents in the context? Perhaps the aorists appears there because of the
> series of concrete actions envisioned. It seems to me that just about
> every handy generalization on the meaning of these aspects that I've
> ever heard is wrong. We do should always quash them, because they
> invariably turn up misused in sermons.... (Im My Humble Opinion,
> of course, as always....
Yes, I think you are right about the verbs in 6:6. I don't think this
would be a problem for Fanning's view, though, since he does NOT argue
that the present is used in contexts implying action that should become
characteristic of one's behavior WHILE THE AORIST IS NOT. He argues (and
I *think* I am representing him correctly here) that the present imperative
tends to imply action which should become characteristic, while the
aorist is UNMARKED for this quality. That is, the aorist is neutral on
this point. Sometimes, however, the context in which an aorist is placed
will give it an implication which may include customary or habitual
action, as in 6:6.
In my earlier comment I did not mean to imply that Fanning's approach is
without problems. Where both Fanning and Stanley Porter succeed IMHO is
in challenging us to move beyond the traditional explanations of the uses
of present and aorist imperative (among other things). Both of their
proposals leave us with a number of problems. I merely suggested that
Fanning's proposal should be read. A more recent approach which
interacts creatively with both Fanning and Porter's approach, is the
dissertation of Mari Olsen, "A Semantic and Pragmatic Model of Lexical
and Grammatical Aspect" (Northwestern University, 1994). Olsen makes
clear progress on the issue of verbal aspect by incorporating recent work
in pragmatics. She also maintains a clear distinction between 'lexical
aspect' (what individual verbs contribute to the aspect of a particular
statement) and grammatical aspect (what the tense forms contribute to the
aspect of a particular statement. This distinction is crucial, since as
you point out, there are numerous exceptions to any general statement
made about what a particular grammatical form means. She handles these
'exeptions' well in terms of the contribution of individual
verbs--lexical aspect (completely aside from there tense).
Besides this important distinction between lexical and grammatical
aspect, Olsen is able to give a provocative account of the contribution
of context (which is what happens in Mt 6:6 set up by SU DE (OTAN
PROSEUCHI which clearly denotes customary action) by her treatment of
pragmatics (meaning in context).
Well, my comments on Olsen's dissertation are certainly a gross
oversimplification of a 368 page document, but I hope she will correct
any misstatements since (I think) she is on this list. The abstract for
her dissertation should soon be available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.uwa.edu.au/HGrk.
Micheal W. Palmer
Mellon Research Fellow
Department of Linguistics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- --- GIGO+ sn 274 at access vsn 0.99.940127
- --
|Internet: mpalmes_email_unc_edu@access.alt.za
|
| A.C.C.E.S.S (Africa Cross-Connect, +27-21-919-0300)
------------------------------
End of b-greek-digest V1 #590
*****************************
** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
To unsubscribe from this list write
majordomo@virginia.edu
with "unsubscribe b-greek-digest" as your message content. For other
automated services write to the above address with the message content
"help".
For further information, you can write the owner of the list at
owner-b-greek@virginia.edu
You can send mail to the entire list via the address:
b-greek@virginia.edu