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.
The Greek Verbal Network Viewed from a Probabilistic Standpoint 41
Appendix B—System Probabilities by Sub-Corpus of the New Testament
Synoptic Pauline Johannine Other Whole New
Gospels & Letters Writings Testament
Acts
(1)ASPECTUALITY
+expectational 767 0.06 294 0.06 175 0.05 198 0.06 1434 0.06
+aspectual 13015 0.94 4635 0.94 3401 0.95 2936 0.94 23987 0.94
(2)ASPECT1
+perfective 7222 0.55 1651 0.36 1413 0.42 1318 0.45 11604 0.48
–perfective 5793 0.45 2984 0.64 1988 0.58 1618 0.55 12383 0.52
(3)ASPECT2
+imperfective 5203 0.90 2576 0.86 1595 0.80 1351 0.83 10725 0.87
+stative 590 0.10 408 0.14 393 0.20 267 0.17 1658 0.13
(4)REMOTENESS
–remote 4864 0.84 2929 0.98 1780 0.90 1565 0.97 11138 0.90
+remote 929 0.16 55 0.02 208 0.10 53 0.03 1245 0.10
(5)CAUSALITY1
+active 10010 0.73 3244 0.66 2930 0.82 2148 0.69 18332 0.72
–active 3772 0.27 1685 0.34 646 0.18 986 0.31 7089 0.28
(6)CAUSALITY2
+passive 2290 0.61 1115 0.66 405 0.63 691 0.70 4501 0.64
+ergative 1482 0.39 570 0.34 240 0.37 294 0.30 2586 0.36
(7)FINITENESS
+finite 8771 0.64 3318 0.67 2884 0.81 1898 0.61 16871 0.66
–finite 5011 0.36 1611 0.33 692 0.19 1236 0.39 8550 0.34
(8)FACTIVITY
+fact. presupposit. 3744 0.75 1137 0.71 534 0.77 980 0.79 6395 0.75
–fact. presupposit. 1267 0.25 474 0.29 158 0.23 256 0.21 2155 0.25
(9)NUMBER
+singular 5680 0.65 2176 0.66 2000 0.69 1268 0.67 11124 0.66
–singular 3091 0.35 1142 0.34 884 0.31 630 0.33 5747 0.34
(10)PARTICIPATION
–included 6300 0.72 1608 0.48 1786 0.62 1255 0.66 10949 0.65
+included 2471 0.28 1710 0.52 1098 0.38 643 0.34 5922 0.35
(11)DIRECTION
–direct 1608 0.65 724 0.42 536 0.49 365 0.57 3233 0.55
+direct 863 0.35 986 0.58 562 0.51 278 0.43 2689 0.45
(12)ATTITUDE
+assertive 7138 0.81 2417 0.73 2407 0.83 1483 0.78 13445 0.80
–assertive 1633 0.19 901 0.27 477 0.17 415 0.22 3426 0.20
(13)NON-ASSERTION
+projective 808 0.49 492 0.55 335 0.70 205 0.49 1840 0.54
+directive 825 0.51 409 0.45 142 0.30 210 0.51 1586 0.46
(14)CONTINGENCY
–contingent 790 0.98 461 0.94 335 1.00 198 0.97 1784 0.97
+contingent 18 0.02 31 0.06 0 0.00 7 0.03 56 0.03
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