ἔγραψέ μοι γάρ ... τὰ νῦν οὖν γράφω σοι. οὖν and γάρ as inferential and elaborative discourse markers in Greek papyrus letters (I – IV AD)

I analyse the use of the particles οὖν and γάρ in a corpus of documentary texts ranging from the first to the fourth century AD. I attempt to answer three main research questions: (i) with what frequency are οὖν and γάρ used; was one of these particles used more frequently than the other?; (ii) what are the functional/syntactic similarities and differences between the two particles; (iii) are there signs of functional development? My observations are framed within ‘discourse marker theory’, whereby οὖν and γάρ are viewed as ‘inferential’ and ‘elaborative’ discourse markers

Verbal periphrasis in Ancient Greek: a state of the art

The term 'verbal periphrasis' is commonly used to denote constructions consisting of a finite and a non-finite verb. This state of the art focuses on Ancient Greek periphrastic constructions, more specifically those formed with a participle. The first part of the article gives a broad outline of previous research and offers an overview of those constructions which are called 'periphrastic' in the literature. In the second and third part of the article I discuss recent and less recent advancements with regard to two general issues, the definition of verbal periphrasis and the role of language contact, and two more specific issues, the syntax and pragmatics of the most frequently occurring periphrases, which take epsilon i mu i as finite verb. I conclude with some suggestions for further research

The syntax of the periphrastic progressive in the Septuagint and the New Testament

In this article, I discuss the use of the periphrastic progressive construction of εἰμί "be" with present participle in the Septuagint and the New Testament. I argue that a broad distinction can be made between two main uses, called ‘durative progressive’ and ‘focalized progressive’. In both cases, a number of syntactic frames can be specified in which the periphrastic construction occurs. I conclude the article by discussing the relationship between the Septuagintal and the New Testamental use of the periphrastic construction, arguing that while there are many similarities, this relationship should not be conceived of in terms of imitation, as some scholars have suggested

Dimensions of social meaning in post-classical Greek towards an integrated approach

Especially in the first half of the twentieth century, language was viewed as a vehicle for the transmission of facts and ideas. Later on, scholars working in linguistic frameworks such as Functional and Cognitive Linguistics, (Historical) Sociolinguistics and Functional Sociolinguistics, have emphasized the social relevance of language, focusing, for example, on linguistic concepts such as deixis, modality, or honorific language, or embedding larger linguistic patterns in their social contexts, through notions such as register, sociolect, genre, etc. The main aim of this article is to systematize these observations, through an investigation of how the central, though ill-understood notion of “social meaning” can be captured. The starting point for the discussion is the work that has been done in the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics. This framework distinguishes “social” (“interpersonal”) meaning from two other types of meaning, and offers a typology of different types of contexts with which these different meanings resonate. In order to achieve a more satisfactory account of social meaning, however, I argue that we need to connect to a theory of how signs convey meaning. The discussion is relevant for Ancient Greek in its entirety, but focuses specifically on Post-classical Greek: as a case study, I discuss five private letters from the so-called Theophanes archive

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

In many languages, a person can be addressed either in the second person singular or second person plural. While the former indicates familiarity and/or lack of respect, 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 this same period, I argue, 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

Ancient Greek and the category of verbal periphrasis

This paper discusses which constructions in Ancient Greek consisting of a finite verb and a participle belong to the category of „verbal periphrasis‟. By applying various criteria of periphrasticity to a corpus of examples, I show that only a limited number of constructions can be considered fully periphrastic. I consider these constructions to be the central members of a prototypically organized category

Towards a socio-historical analysis of Ancient Greek? Some problems and prospects

Recent findings in sociolinguistics have greatly enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms of linguistic variation and change. In this paper, I discuss the possibility of applying a historical sociolinguistic approach to a corpus language such as Ancient Greek. In the first part of my paper, I address the question of exactly how to take into account the relationship between language and social context. I review a number of recently made proposals, and their applicability to Ancient Greek. In the second part of my paper, I argue for the benefits of one specific approach, the Systemic Functional framework, applying it to particle usage in letters and petitions from Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt (I – VIII ad)

Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and late antique Egypt : outline of a new research programme

In October 2017, the European Research Council awarded a Starting Grant to Klaas Bentein for his project EVWRIT: Everyday writing in Graeco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt: A socio-semiotic study of communicative variation. In what follows, the research goals, methodology, and corpus of this new project are briefly outlined

The decline of infinitival complementation in Ancient Greek : a case of diachronic ambiguity resolution?

Several reasons have been proposed for the decline of infinitival complementation in Ancient Greek: the fact that the infinitive became morphologically restricted, the inherent redundancy of the Classical complementation system, and language contact. In this article, I explore yet another reason for the decline of the infinitive: I argue that the system of infinitival complementation became fundamentally ambiguous in its expression in later Greek. As has been noted previously, the loss of the future and perfect tense had a serious impact on the use of infinitival complementation. However, rather than there being an ‘omission’ of temporal distinctions, as previous studies have claimed, I argue that the present and aorist infinitive became polyfunctional, being used for anterior, simultaneous, and posterior events. Next to temporal ambiguity, a second type of ambiguity occurred: ‘modal’ ambiguity or ambiguity with regard to the speech function of the complement clause. Already in Classical times, the present and aorist infinitive could be used after certain verb classes to encode both ‘propositions’ and ‘proposals’ (offers/commands), an ambiguity which continues to be found in later Greek. The study is based on a corpus of documentary texts from the Roman and Byzantine periods (I – VIII AD)