7.1 | Paul L. Danove Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA This article develops five features that describe the
conceptualizations of the event of communication grammaticalized
by New Testament verbs and uses these features to formulate a model
of the observed New Testament usages of communication. The
discussion resolves all NT occurrences of verbs that designate
communication into one of twenty-one usages with distinct feature
descriptions, offers guidelines for interpreting and translating verbs
with each usage, and clarifies elements of the conceptualization of
communication in relation to specific examples. (Article) Keywords: Feature, communication, semantic, syntactic, verbal usage |
7.2 | Nicholas P. Lunn Wycliffe Bible Translators, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK The following aims to provide something lacking in the
field of New Testament Greek studies, which is an overview of the
various forms in which the logical relation of contrast may be
realized in the surface structure of the language. Here seven distinct
categories are described, illustrated, and differentiated, with regard to
both their inherent relation and their respective connectors.
Variations, where such exist, within each basic category are included,
along with any sub-categories. A final section demonstrates the
relevance of the presentation for the related tasks of translation and
exegesis, offering analyses of several texts where there has been
some confusion or misunderstanding with respect to the contrasting
relation. (Article) Keywords: Concession, replacement, exception, connector,
translation |
7.3 | John J.H. Lee McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, ON, Canada Ruqaiya Hasan’s Cohesive Harmony Analysis (CHA) is a
useful tool to quantifiably predict the degree of the reader’s
perception of the coherence of an English text. This work adopts and
reconfigures her ideas to make them applicable to ancient Greek
texts. This article then applies the modified version of Hasan’s CHA
to investigate and compare the degrees of the perceived coherence of
two family letters written in the second century AD. Based on the
textual analyses, the conclusion is drawn that CHA is a promising
tool to quantifiably predict the degree of coherence of ancient Greek
texts. (Article) Keywords: Cohesion, coherence, cohesive tie, cohesive chain,
cohesive harmony analysis, ancient Greek |
7.4 | Ryder A. Wishart McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, ON, Canada This paper explores linguistic monosemy and the
methodological priorities it suggests. These priorities include a
bottom-up modeling of lexical semantics, a corpus-driven discovery
procedure, and a sign-based approach to linguistic description. Put
simply, monosemy is a methodology for describing the semantic
potential of linguistic signs. This methodology is driven by the
process of abstraction based on verifiable data, and so it incorporates
empirical checks and balances into the tasks of linguistics, especially
(though not exclusively) lexical semantics. This paper contrasts
lowest common denominator and greatest common factor
methodologies within biblical studies, with three examples: (a) Porter
and Pitts’s analysis of the semantics of the genitive within the Greek
case system in regard to the πίστις Χριστοῦ debate; (b) disagreement
between Ronald Peters and Dan Wallace regarding the Greek article;
and (c) the Porter–Fanning debate on the nature of verbal aspect in
Greek. Analysis of the Greek of the New Testament stands to benefit
from incorporating the insights of monosemy and the methodological
correctives it steers toward. (Article) Keywords: Linguistic modeling, minimalism, traditional grammar,
Saussure, Columbia School, semantics |
7.5 | Stanley E. Porter McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, ON, Canada In this paper, I revisit the question of the aspectual nature
of the imperative, or rather, examine the aspectual nature of
imperatives and some other forms that function alongside the
imperative as forms of command and prohibition. I divide my
comments into three sections: imperatives and the Greek mood
system, verbal aspect and the imperative, and some abiding issues—
three in particular—that continue to be raised, despite the discussion
that has transpired over the last nearly thirty years. (Article) Keywords: Imperative, aspect, mood, frequency |
7.6 | Joseph D. Fantin Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX, USA Compared to other grammatical phenomena, the Greek
imperative mood has received minimal attention. This article will
explore and evaluate the traditional approach to the meaning and
usages of this mood. These having been found deficient, an alternate
approach will be proposed. The imperative mood will indeed be
found to mean “command”; however, a “command” can be
understood as harsh and inappropriate in certain relational situations.
It will be discovered that communicators use various strategies to
nuance and in some cases weaken the force of the “command”
depending on the intended purpose of the imperative and the
relationships of the participants in a communication situation. Thus,
degree of force is one way (among others) to classify an imperative.
(Article) Keywords: Imperative mood, command, neurocognitive
stratificational linguistics, relevance theory |
7.7 | James D. Dvorak Oklahoma Christian University, Edmond, OK, USA This article discusses the semantics of the imperative
mood (directive attitude) in biblical Greek. The author leads into this
discussion by first defining “semantics” (meaning) from the
perspective of two major interpretive paradigms that are operative in
current linguistic studies of biblical Greek: the logical-philosophical
paradigm, which undergirds Chomskyan linguistic theory, and the
ethnographic-descriptive paradigm, which lies behind Hallidayan
Systemic Functional Linguistics. The semantics of the imperative
mood is then discussed from each of these perspectives, and it is
argued that an SFL approach to the imperative is the most
linguistically defensible. Examples are provided from the New
Testament. (Article) Keywords: Systemic functional linguistics, SFL, context, context of
culture, context of situation, semantics, directive attitude, imperative
mood, command |