Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Biblical Greek morphology and syntax, aspect, linguistics, discourse analysis, and related topics
Matthew Longhorn
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Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

I am reading Michael E. Hayes work on the attributive participle and relative clauses in the New Testament and am confused.
Hayes talks about restrictive and non-restrictive strategies. An example is the use of adjectives as a non-restrictive strategy. Hayes points to a number of examples in English, Spanish and Nubi before moving onto the Greek. It seems though that beyond pointing to examples, it is ultimately the context of the utterance that determines whether the adjective functions restrictively or not. Hayes points to the use of adjectives as a strategy for restrictivity as well without much differentiating the analysis from non-restrictivity other than context and the lexical items used.
It seems to me that what Hayes is describing as strategies is more a case of acceptable constructions where restrictivity or non-restrivtivity can be pragmatically determined. Even his discussion on the continuum of acceptability is still pragmatically decided and not just a factor of the lexical item used.

Am I misunderstanding his work? I should note that I am only halfway through the book but am confused enough to post before finishing it as it is making me struggle with his analysis. Without understanding his approach I cannot find a clear principle guiding his assessment as to whether something is really restrictive or not.
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Cite?
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Sorry, I wasn't sure how much I am allowed to cite on here and the information is kind of spread out. I was relying on people already having a copy/having read it.
I have added a photo of the relevant sections from pages 63-64 on restrictivity and then then 136-137 on non-restrictivity
Attachments
Hayes on Adjectives.pdf
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Stephen Carlson
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Oh, I meant title and publisher so I can get it myself, rather than the quotations (thanks, btw).
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Ah, that would seem to have been something worth including more clearly in the original post.
Michael E. Hayes - An Analysis of the Attributive Participle and the Relative Clause in the New Testament
Peter Lang
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Matthew Longhorn wrote: May 31st, 2018, 11:37 pm Ah, that would seem to have been something worth including more clearly in the original post.
Michael E. Hayes - An Analysis of the Attributive Participle and the Relative Clause in the New Testament
Peter Lang
This looks like it might be adapted from his doctoral thesis, which is available here.

At first blush, it looks like the summary starting on page 227 is a good place to see the conclusions he comes to, and the "Accessibility Hierarchy" is central to his understanding.

Appendix 1 is a great place to see how he categorizes specific clauses.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Good find - I might have a look later and see whether he has changed much.

I should point out that I am not necessarily doubting his conclusions re. the tendency of relatives to be found in non-restrictive contexts when modifying the subject, or participles in restrictive ones. I suspect I marginally diverge from him on his analysis of some instances but not drastically so.
It is more a struggle with understanding his use of “strategies” which imply to me a conscious choice to do something to bring about a given outcome.
This doesn’t seem to fit with his discussion of the use of adjectives as a strategy. Not understanding this makes the methodology harder for me to follow and therefore the work seem much more subjective.

Despite the above comments, I am not pretending to be even remotely on his level so this is a genuine request for help in understanding and not a snipe at his scholarship.
Last edited by Matthew Longhorn on June 1st, 2018, 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Just read the rest of your response. Sorry - only saw the link at first.

Definitely the accessibility hierarchy is a key point and his overall analysis is heavily context dependent keeping that in his sight. Really it is just the notion of “strategy” that I am struggling with.
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Matthew Longhorn wrote: June 1st, 2018, 8:22 am Really it is just the notion of “strategy” that I am struggling with.
Yeah, I hear you. I'm not sure, but I think this use of term "strategy" might come from Comrie. See, for instance, Bernard Comrie, Tania Kuteva. 2013. Relativization Strategies. You also see this use of the word in some SIL works, e.g. this one by Christansen and Levinsohn: Relative Clauses in Tadaksahak.

Look at how Levinsohn uses the term in his SELF-INSTRUCTION MATERIALS on NARRATIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS. I suspect this might have something to do with the whole "choice implies meaning" mantra. But the real linguists probably know a lot more than I do.

Like you, I suspect this is not normally a conscious choice. It's one way of expressing something. But you could imagine someone considering more than one way to say something and picking one by feel.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Hayes - Analysis of Attributive Participle and Relative Clause

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Thanks for the links Jonathan, I will check those links out later for better understanding on strategies.
Also, thanks for pointing me to his summary. It didn't really clarify the "strategy" question, but did lead to some better understanding of his position that will help me as I go through the rest of the book. Probably should jump to the summary when I get stuck on things in books in the future
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