Stanley E. Porter - Matthew Brook O’Donnell, «The Greek Verbal Network Viewed from a Probabilistic
Standpoint: An Exercise in Hallidayan Linguistics», Vol. 14 (2001) 3-41
This study explores numerical or distributional
markedness in the verbal network of the Greek of the New Testament. It
extends the systemic analysis of Porter (Verbal Aspect in the Greek of
the New Testament, 1989), making use of the Hallidayan concept of
probabilistic grammar, which posits a typology of systems where features
are either "equiprobable".both features are equally distributed
(0.5/0.5).or "skewed".one feature is marked by its low frequency of
occurrence (0.9/0.1). The results confirm that the verbal aspect system of
the Greek of the New Testament is essentially independent of other verbal
systems, such as voice and mood.
Stanley E. Porter and Matthew Brook O’Donnell
36
9. CAUSALITY (5) and ASPECT1 (2)
Realization Statements:
+active +perfective >> Aorist Active
–active +perfective >> Aorist Middle & Passive
+active –perfective >> Present, Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect Active
–active –perfective >> Present, Imperfect, Perfect, Pluperfect Middle & Passive
+perfective –perfective
+active ........................ 8508 0.73 8987 0.73 17495 0.73
–active ........................ 3096 0.27 3396 0.27 6492 0.27
+active –active
+perfective ................... 8508 0.49 3096 0.48 11604 0.48
–perfective .................. 8987 0.51 3396 0.52 12383 0.52
The ninth set of examples concerns the relation of the CAUSALITY
system and ASPECT1 system. This set of systemic choices concerns the
options of ±active and ±perfective (systems 5 and 2). The results here are
quite easy to summarize. In both sets of choices, the results are similar to
those noted above for the simple systems. Choice of ±active results in an
equiprobable distribution for ±perfective (0.49/0.51 and 0.48/0.52, res-
pectively), and choice of ±perfective results in a similarly slightly skewed
distribution for ±active (0.73/0.27, for each), as for the causality system on
its own. Again, the CAUSALITY system does not affect the ASPECT1 system.
10. CAUSALITY (5) and ASPECT2 (3)
Realization Statements:
+active +imperfective >> Present & Imperfect Active
–active +imperfective >> Present, Imperfect Middle & Passive
+active +stative >> Perfect & Pluperfect Active
–active +stative >> Perfect, Pluperfect Middle & Passive
+imperfective +stative
+active ........................ 8032 0.75 955 0.58 8987 0.73
–active ........................ 2693 0.25 703 0.42 3396 0.27
+active –active
+imperfective ............... 8032 0.89 2693 0.79 10725 0.87
+stative ....................... 955 0.11 703 0.21 1658 0.13
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