European structuralism

European structuralism is a paradigm for the study of language developed by prominent European linguists during the inter-war period and the first decades after World War II that radically rejected the prevailing atomism of 19th century (particularly neo-grammarian) linguistics and language psychology

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

Componential analysis

Componential analysis is a method of semantic analysis based on the assumption that the meaning of words can be adequately described by a set of primitive semantic features

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

Immediate Constituent Analysis (IC analysis)

Immediate Constituent Analysis is a structural method for analysing the hierarchical relations among the constituents of complex linguistic constructions, proceeding consecutively from the higher to the next lower level until no further breakdown into smaller units is possible

Country size and publicly provided goods

This paper studies the equilibrium size of countries. Individuals in small countries have greater influence over the nature of political decision making while individuals in large countries have the advantage of more public goods and lower tax rates. The model implies that (i) there exists excessive incentives to separate, though this need not be the case for all sets of secession rules studied; (ii) an exogenous increase in public spending decreases country size; (iii) countries with a presidential-congressional democracy are larger than countries with a parliamentary democracy

Incentives for separation and incentives for public good provision

In this paper I examine the incentives of regions to unite, to separate and to provide public goods. Separation allows for greater influence over the nature of political decision making while unification allows regions to exploit economies of scale in the provision of public goods. When public good provision is relatively inexpensive, separation occurs since individuals want to assert greater influence, while for intermediate costs of public good provision, separation can be explained by the desires for greater influence as well as for more public goods. Compared with the social optimum, there are excessive incentives for public good provision as well as excessive incentives for separation

Georg von der Gabelentz and 'das lautsymbolische Gefühl': a chapter in the history of iconicity research

In any future history of iconicity research, a chapter will have to be reserved to a singular figure in the history of linguistics: Georg von der Gabelentz (1840–1893). Only few scholars have paid attention to Gabelentz’ views on iconicity. Coseriu (1967: 97) mentions Gabelentz’ “interesting and fertile ideas” on sound symbolism, without further discussion, like Schuchardt (1897: 205) had done before him. The most comprehensive reference to date is a two-page summary of Gabelentz’ views on sound symbolism in Jakobson & Waugh (1987: 181-183). For the rest, it seems that Gabelentz’ observations have gone largely unnoticed in modern scholarship. In this article I therefore discuss some of his observations on sound symbolism as they can be found in his magnum opus 'Die Sprachwissenschaft' ([1891] 1901). Although reflections on the expressive values of sounds have a long tradition in Western thinking, Gabelentz is among the first scholars who turned the previously mostly intuitive and unsystematic presentations of this aspect of language into a more systematic approach based on a number of insightful conceptual distinctions. After Gabelentz, the role of sound symbolism has been increasingly discussed by scholars, e.g. Paul ([1880] 1909), Wundt (1900), Leskien (1902/1903), Rubinyi (1913), among others. However, it seems that the importance and the proper place of Gabelentz in this historical development has not been duly appreciated

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