Klaas Bentein

Perifrasi aspettuali in greco e in latino, Origini e grammaticalizzazioni

I present here a detailed appraisal of Luisa Amenta‟s Perifrasi aspettuali in greco e in latino, Origini e grammaticalizzazioni (2003). Amenta‟s study on verbal periphrases is a revised version of her Ph.D. thesis (1999), completed at the Universita degli Studi di Roma Tre under the supervision of Prof. dr. Marco Mancini. It offers a diachronic and typological confrontation of periphrastic constructions in both Greek and Latin. I briefly describe the term „verbal periphrasis‟ (§1), sketch the main points of previous research (§2) and outline the different chapters of Amenta‟s book (§3). Then I give some critical remarks (§4) and suggestions for further research (§5), concentrating on periphrases in Greek. I conclude with a list of typos and errors (§6).

Perfect Periphrases in Post-Classical and Early Byzantine Greek: An Ecological-Evolutionary Account

I analyze the use and development of perfect periphrases with the verbs “be” (eἰμί) and “have” (ἔχω) in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek. While their importance has often been stressed in the context of the restructuring of the verbal system (more in particular the loss of the synthetic perfect), they have not received an in-depth, corpus-based treatment yet. The approach adopted in this article builds on insights from recently developed ecological-evolutionary models, which recognize the fact that language change is a two-step process, consisting of innovation and propagation, and that multiple ‘ecologogical’ factors influence the spread of a construction through the population (what I discuss in terms of ‘register’).

Minor Complementation Patterns in Post-classical Greek (I–VI AD): A Socio-historical Analysis of a Corpus of Documentary Papyri

Classical Greek (V–IV BC) is known for the complexity of its complementation system, involving infinitival, participial, and finite verb forms. In Post-classical Greek (III BC–VI AD), a simplification of this system takes place, whereby finite complementation becomes much more frequent, and ὅτι is used as a “generic” complementizer. This article analyses to what extent complementation patterns other than ὅτι with a finite verb form and the accusative with the infinitive are still used in the Post-classical period (I–VI AD), focusing on documentary sources (i.e. letters and petitions). I show that various “minor” complementation patterns are (still) attested; some of them are known from Classical Greek, while others are entirely new formations. I furthermore argue that “factivity” and “formality” are two key factors in explaining the distribution of these patterns.

The gnomic aorist in Hesiod

This article studies the use of the gnomic aorist, i.e., the aorist indicative, in omnitemporal statements, covering its origin, its synchronic semantic value in Ancient and Classical Greek, and the difference between this aorist and the present indicative in omnitemporal statements. Due to the lack of a proper form to express both omnitemporality and perfectivity, the (secondary) aorist indicative was used in Greek in cases where the speaker wanted to emphasize the (perfective) aspect of the relevant state of affairs. The existence of borderline cases is understandable if we take the so-called Prototype theory into account. The research is based on Hesiod, but most conclusions seem valid for other cases of the gnomic aorist also.

βλήμενος ἦν (Iliad 4.211) : lexical or periphrastic?

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.

Διά as a Polysemous Preposition in Early Byzantine Greek: “Dead Ends” and Other Uses in the Qurrah Archive (VIII AD)

In this article, I offer a systematic description of the various uses of the preposition διά in the Early Byzantine archive of Qurrah ibn Sharik (VIII AD), an archive in which the preposition is attested remarkably frequently. Functionally, the use of διά is reminiscent of the Classical period, in that various older uses are attested that no longer occur in Modern Greek (such as PATH, INTERMEDIARY, and INSTRUMENT). However, there are also various innovative uses that are attested neither in the Classical nor in the Modern period (such as AGENT, SOURCE, and OPPONENT). The occurrence of these “dead ends” shows that the functional development of prepositions from Classical to Modern Greek should not be thought of as linear.

Politeness in pronouns : third-person reference in Byzantine documentary papyri

Abstract In many languages, a person can be addressed either in the second person singular or the second person plural: the former indicates familiarity and/or lack of respect, while the latter suggests distance and/or respect towards the addressee. While in Ancient Greek pronominal reference initially was not used as a ‘politeness strategy’, in the Post-classical period a T–V distinction did develop. In the Early Byzantine period, I argue, yet another pronominal usage developed: a person could also be addressed in the third person singular. This should be connected to the rise of abstract nominal forms of address, a process which can be dated to the fourth century AD.

Finite vs. non-finite complementation in Post-classical and Early Byzantine Greek Towards a pragmatic restructuring of the complementation system?

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, Cristofaro (1996) 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 Cristofaro’s (1996) 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.

Variation and change in Ancient Greek tense, aspect and modality

In this collective volume, some of the leading experts in the field explore aspects of linguistic variation and change in one of the core areas of Ancient Greek grammar: tense, aspect, and modality.

Transitivity, ecology and the emergence of verbal periphrasis in Ancient Greek

In this article, I discuss the emergence of verbal periphrasis with eἰμί “I am” and ἔχω “I have” and a perfect, present or aorist participle in Archaic and Classical Greek. Adopting a so-called ‘ecological’ perspective, I argue for the importance of looking at the interrelationship between the periphrastic constructions in terms of their origins and development, drawing particular attention to the mechanism of ‘intraference’. I relate their semantic development to the notion of ‘transitivity’ (in a generalized, gradual sense) and show that ἔχω with aorist participle, eἰμί with perfect participle and eἰμί with present participle became used in increasingly more transitive contexts, a process which I propose to call ‘transitivization’. Somewhat tentatively, I suggest that this notion can also be used to describe the semantic development of periphrasis in general, first having occurred in the domain of perfect aspect, afterwards in that of imperfective aspect and only in a final stage in that of perfective aspect.