The Stative Aspect and Its Discourse Function in Koine Greek Paper presented by Toshikazu S. Foley at the Biblical and Theological Seminar 10:30 A.M. 12:00, November 21, 2011, China Evangelical Seminary, Taipei, Taiwan Introduction Aspectuality, verbal aspect, grammatical aspect (Smith: viewpoint aspect) Aktionsart (Bache: actionality), Lexical aspect (Vendler: situation aspect) +Remote Aspectuality Remote +Perfective Perfective +Imperfective +Stative Greek aspect Reference: Toshikazu S. Foley, Biblical Translation in Chinese and Greek (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 137 +Perfective Perfective +Imperfective +Stative +Remote Imperfect Pluperfect Aorist Remote Present Perfect Greek tense-forms and their aspectual realizations
Aspect and discourse function The aorist is the least heavily marked tense-form and, thus, it is used as the backgrounding device in discourse. Foregrounded prominence in Greek discourse is achieved by the more marked present and imperfect tense-forms. The perfect and pluperfect are the most marked tense-forms, and both are used to contribute frontgrounded prominence in discourse. The following illustrates the five Greek tense-forms arranged in order from least to most marked: Aorist Imperfect Present Perfect Pluperfect Markedness and Greek aspect Unmarked Marked Reference: Toshikazu S. Foley, Biblical Translation in Chinese and Greek (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 138 Discourse boundaries determined by shifts in tense-forms, grammatical person Smaller units may be marked by conjunctives such as καί, δέ, γάρ, οὖν, ἀλλά, μετὰ τοῦτο, νυνὶ δέ, οὕτως καί, περὶ δέ John 19:16b 37 Crucifixion The stative aspect is grammaticalized by the perfect and pluperfect tense-forms, which occur 34 times (11% of total verbs) in the Passion narrative of John. It is the most heavily marked aspect in Greek, and is generally used to frontground narrative discourse. The periscope of Jesus crucifixion (19:16b 37), which accounts for 13 occurrences of the stative aspect, is the most prominent among the other discourse units of the Passion narrative of John. The perfect and the pluperfect, tense-forms are reserved to highlight several items of critical importance in the narrative: the perfect is used in the introduction of the content of the inscription (v. 19), the languages in which the inscription was written (v. 20), Pilate s response to the chief priests request to reword the inscription (v. 22), the depiction of Jesus mother and his beloved disciple at the scene of the crucifixion (v. 26; cf. παρεστηκώς, 18:22), Jesus premonitions of what will soon transpire (v. 28; cf. 18:4), Jesus final words on the cross (v. 30), the explanation behind why the soldiers did not break Jesus legs (v. 33), and the testimony of the witness to the events (v. 35). The pluperfect 2
tense-form is used to describe the people who were present at the scene of the crucifixion (v. 25; cf. ἦν ἑστώς, 18:18, 25). Παρέλαβον οὖν τὸν Ἰησοῦν 17 καὶ βαστάζων αὑτῷ τὸν σταυρὸν ἐξῆλθεν εἰς τὸν λεγόμενον Κρανίου Τόπον, ὃ λέγεται Ἑβραϊστὶ Γολγοθα, 18 ὅπου αὐτὸν ἐσταύρωσαν, καὶ μετ αὐτοῦ ἄλλ ους δύο ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐντεῦθεν, μέσον δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν. 19 ἔγραψεν δὲ καὶ τίτλον ὁ Πιλᾶτος καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἦν δὲ γεγραμμένον Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. 20 τοῦτον οὖν τὸν τίτλον πολλ οὶ ἀνέγνωσαν τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὅτι ἐγγ ὺς ἦν ὁ τόπος τῆς πόλεως ὅπου ἐσταυρώθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἦν γεγραμμένον Ἑβραϊστί, Ῥωμαϊστί, Ἑλληνιστί 21 ἔλεγον οὖν τῷ Πιλάτῳ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων Μὴ γράφε Ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἀλλ ὅτι ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν Βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων εἰμί. 22 ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Πιλᾶτος Ὃ γέγραφα γέγραφα. 23 οἱ οὖν στρατιῶται ὅτε ἐσταύρωσαν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἔλαβον τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐποίησαν τέσσαρα μέρη, ἑκάστῳ στρατιώτῃ μέρος, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα. ἦν δὲ ὁ χιτὼν ἄραφος, ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντὸς δι ὅλου 24 εἶπαν οὖν πρὸς ἀλλ ήλους Μὴ σχίσωμεν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ λάχωμεν περὶ αὐτοῦ τίνος ἔσται ἵνα ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ ἡ λέγουσα Διεμερίσαντο τὰ ἱμάτιά μου ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἱματισμόν μου ἔβαλον κλῆρον. Οἱ μὲν οὖν στρατιῶται ταῦτα ἐποίησαν. 25 Εἱστήκεισαν δὲ παρὰ τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ, Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλωπᾶ καὶ Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή. 26 Ἰησοῦς οὖν ἰδὼν τὴν μητέρα καὶ τὸν μαθητὴν παρεστῶτα ὃν ἠγάπα λέγει τῇ μητρί Γύναι, ἴδε ὁ υἱός σου 27 εἶτα λέγει τῷ μαθητῇ Ἴδε ἡ μήτηρ σου. καὶ ἀπ ἐκείνης τῆς ὥρας ἔλαβεν ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτὴν εἰς τὰ ἴδια. 3
28 Μετὰ τοῦτο εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἤδη πάντα τετέλεσται ἵνα τελειωθῇ ἡ γραφὴ λέγει Διψῶ. 29 σκεῦος ἔκειτο ὄξους μεστόν σπόγγ ον οὖν μεστὸν τοῦ ὄξους ὑσσώπῳ περιθέντες προσήνεγκαν αὐτοῦ τῷ στόματι. 30 ὅτε οὖν ἔλαβεν τὸ ὄξος ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν Τετέλεσται, καὶ κλίνας τὴν κεφαλὴν παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα. 31 Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι, ἐπεὶ παρασκευὴ ἦν, ἵνα μὴ μείνῃ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὰ σώματα ἐν τῷ σαββάτῳ, ἦν γὰρ μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνου τοῦ σαββάτου, ἠρώτησαν τὸν Πιλᾶτον ἵνα κατεαγῶσιν αὐτῶν τὰ σκέλη καὶ ἀρθῶσιν. 32 ἦλθον οὖν οἱ στρατιῶται, καὶ τοῦ μὲν πρώτου κατέαξαν τὰ σκέλη καὶ τοῦ ἄλλου τοῦ συσταυρωθέντος αὐτῷ 33 ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐλθόντες, ὡς εἶδον ἤδη αὐτὸν τεθνηκότα, οὐ κατέαξαν αὐτοῦ τὰ σκέλη, 34 ἀλλ εἷς τῶν στρατιωτῶν λόγχῃ αὐτοῦ τὴν πλευρὰν ἔνυξεν, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν εὐθὺς αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ. 35 καὶ ὁ ἑωρακὼς μεμαρτύρηκεν, καὶ ἀληθινὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν ἡ μαρτυρία, καὶ ἐκεῖνος οἶδεν ὅτι ἀληθῆ λέγει, ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς πιστεύητε. 36 ἐγένετο γὰρ ταῦτα ἵνα ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ Ὀστοῦν οὐ συντριβήσεται αὐτοῦ. 37 καὶ πάλιν ἑτέρα γραφὴ λέγει Ὄψονται εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν. 4
John 1:14 18 14 Καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας 15 Ἰωάννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ κέκραγεν λέγων Οὗτος ἦν ὃν εἶπον Ὁ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν 16 ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος 17 ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. 18 θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε μονογενὴς θεὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο. Here, the two occurrences of the perfect tense-form are used to highlight the quoted passage of John the Baptist (repeated 1:27, 30), and to emphasize no one sees God, ever. 5