The Cambridge Grammar of Classical Greek


Book Description

This is the first full-scale reference grammar of Classical Greek in English in a century. The first work of its kind to reflect significant advances in linguistics made in recent decades, it provides students, teachers and academics with a comprehensive yet user-friendly treatment. The chapters on phonology and morphology make full use of insights from comparative and historical linguistics to elucidate complex systems of roots, stems and endings. The syntax offers linguistically up-to-date descriptions of such topics as case usage, tense and aspect, voice, subordinate clauses, infinitives and participles. An innovative section on textual coherence treats particles and word order and discusses several sample passages in detail, demonstrating new ways of approaching Greek texts. Throughout the book numerous original examples are provided, all with translations and often with clarifying notes. Clearly laid-out tables, helpful cross-references and full indexes make this essential resource accessible to users of all levels.




The Middle Voice in Ancient Greek


Book Description

Allan, Rutger The Middle Voice in Ancient Greek. A Study of Polysemy. 2003 The great variety of usage types of the middle voice in Ancient Greek has excited the interest of generations of classical scholars. A number of intriguing questions, however, still have been left unanswered. What is the exact relation between the various middle usage types? How can the semantic element common to all usage types be defined? What is the relation between the middle voice and the passive voice in the aorist and future stems? To provide an answer to these questions, this study takes a novel approach. Following recent developments in Cognitive Linguistics, the middle voice in Ancient Greek is analysed as a polysemous network category. This approach results in a unified description of the semantics of the middle voice which also accounts for diachronical developments. ASCP 11 (2003), 286 p. Cloth - 79.00 EURO, ISBN: 9050633684




The Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek


Book Description

The verb is, in any language, the motor of all communication: no verb, no action. In Greek, verb forms change not only with person, number, tense, and voice, but in four possible moods as well. Available now in a special reprint for the North American market, The Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek is an incomparable resource to students and scholars charged with the considerable task of untangling the Greek language’s many complexities. With clear, concise instruction, Albert Rijksbaron shows how the various verb forms contribute to the richness of the Greek literature as we know it, in this essential guide for both novices and experienced practitioners. “[This study] belongs in the library of any Hellenist and any linguist interested in ancient Greek.”—Classics Newsletter (Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft) “Every use is described with concision and clarity.”—Kratylos “The book offers an example of how the empirical thoroughness of traditional Classical scholarship can be brought into contact with general linguistic theory.”—Language







The Greek Verb Revisited


Book Description

For the past 25 years, debate regarding the nature of tense and aspect in the Koine Greek verb has held New Testament studies at an impasse. The Greek Verb Revisited examines recent developments from the field of linguistics, which may dramatically shift the direction of this discussion. Readers will find an accessible introduction to the foundational issues, and more importantly, they will discover a way forward through the debate. Originally presented during a conference on the Greek verb supported by and held at Tyndale House and sponsored by the Faculty of Divinity of Cambridge University, the papers included in this collection represent the culmination of scholarly collaboration. The outcome is a practical and accessible overview of the Greek verb that moves beyond the current impasse by taking into account the latest scholarship from the fields of linguistics, Classics, and New Testament studies.




The Middle Voice


Book Description

This book approaches the middle voice from the perspective of typology and language universals research. The principal aim is to provide a typologically valid characterization of the category of middle voice in terms of which it can be incorporated in a cognitively-based theory of human language. The term “middle voice” has had a wide range of applications in the linguistic literature of this century. The main thesis in this volume is that there is a coherent, though complex, semantic category of middle voice in human language, which receives grammatical instantiation in many languages. The author claims there is a semantic property crucial to the nature of the middle, which she terms “relative elaboration of events”, that serves as a parameter along which the reflexive and the middle can be situated as semantic categories intermediate in transitivity between one-participant and two-participant events, and which differentiates reflexive and middle from one another. In this area, most analyses deal with one language and/or are limited to Indo-European languages. This work deals with a subset of middle-marking languages that was chosen so as to observe the highest possible number of different middle systems showing significant independent diachronic development.




Origins of the Greek Verb


Book Description

Situated at the crossroads of comparative philology, classics and general historical linguistics, this study is the first ever attempt to outline in full the developments which led from the remotest recoverable stages of the Indo-European proto-language to the complex verbal system encountered in Homer and other early Greek texts. By combining the methods of comparative and internal reconstruction with a careful examination of large collections of primary data and insights gained from the study of language change and linguistic typology, Andreas Willi uncovers the deeper reasons behind many surface irregularities and offers a new understanding of how categories such as aspect, tense and voice interact. Drawing upon evidence from all major branches of Indo-European, and providing exhaustive critical coverage of scholarly debate on the most controversial issues, this book will be an essential reference tool for anyone seeking orientation in this burgeoning but increasingly fragmented area of linguistic research.







Expressions of Agency in Ancient Greek


Book Description

Exploration of the development of prepositions marking the agents of passive verbs in Ancient Greek.




Form and Function in Greek Grammar


Book Description

Albert Rijksbaron is internationally known as one of the leading scholars of the Ancient Greek language, whose work has exerted a strong and lasting influence on the scholarly debate concerning many aspects of Greek linguistics. This volume brings together twenty of his papers, two of which have been translated into English and some which are not easily accessible elsewhere. The selection represents the full range of Rijksbaron’s research, including papers on central topics in Greek linguistics such as tense-aspect, mood, voice, particles, negation, the article, questions, discourse analysis, as well as on the views of ancient grammarians and modern commentators. As a whole, the volume shows how much linguistic analysis can contribute to our understanding of Greek literary texts.