Scope of conjunctions

Jonathan Robie
Posts: 4159
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Scope of conjunctions

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Does anyone know of good work on the scope of conjunctions, especially as they combine with other conjunctions, negation, etc? I'm interested in good descriptions in grammars, or especially in careful linguistic work.

Here's an example of what I would like to understand:
Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ ἱερατεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τάξει τῆς ἐφημερίας αὐτοῦ ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἱερατείας ἔλαχε τοῦ θυμιᾶσαι εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος ἦν τοῦ λαοῦ προσευχόμενον ἔξω τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θυμιάματος· ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἑστὼς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος.
What exactly is the scope of δὲ? Should I read this as:

δὲ (Ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἱερατεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τάξει τῆς ἐφημερίας αὐτοῦ ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἱερατείας ἔλαχε τοῦ θυμιᾶσαι εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ κυρίου), καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος ἦν τοῦ λαοῦ προσευχόμενον ἔξω τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θυμιάματος· ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἑστὼς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος.

Or ...

δὲ (Ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἱερατεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τάξει τῆς ἐφημερίας αὐτοῦ ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἱερατείας ἔλαχε τοῦ θυμιᾶσαι εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος ἦν τοῦ λαοῦ προσευχόμενον ἔξω τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θυμιάματος)· ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἑστὼς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος.

Or ...

δὲ (Ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἱερατεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ τάξει τῆς ἐφημερίας αὐτοῦ ἔναντι τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἱερατείας ἔλαχε τοῦ θυμιᾶσαι εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος ἦν τοῦ λαοῦ προσευχόμενον ἔξω τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θυμιάματος· ὤφθη δὲ αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου ἑστὼς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ θυμιάματος.)

Or in some other way?

I imagine this depends a great deal on the conjunction, that each conjunction has its own scoping rules, which may involve rules on how they interact with other conjunctions, negation, etc. Where can I find a clear explanation of how this works?
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by Stephen Carlson »

As far as I am aware, and I've looked for an answer to this, is that there is no rule. The (postpositive) conjunction or particle only mark the left edge of a discourse domain, not the right. You have to tease out the right boundary by doing what everyone else does: attempt to recreate the structure of the work, using the left edges as a guide.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

The length of a corner...

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Alice wrote:What is the scope of a conjunction?
The White Rabbit wrote:"Why that's an easy question, with an answer obvious to all... It's the same as the length of a corner, don't you see?"
Alice wrote:A corner is only as long as it is till another comes along.
Alice thought for a moment how she might outsmart the White Rabbit.
Alice wrote:You've got me there, but if there is a bend between two corners, is it a bend or a corner??
The White Rabbit wrote:That depends how tall the corners are. If you can still see the first corner after it, then it is only a bend, but if you lose sight of it, then it was a corner too.
Sorry, I know that is not scholarly, but questions about inter-dimensionality (in a model that considers both directionality and distance) and inter-dimensional relationships between language elements leave so much scope for the imagination.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
cwconrad
Posts: 2112
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:52 pm
Location: Burnsville, NC 28714
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by cwconrad »

Stephen Carlson wrote:As far as I am aware, and I've looked for an answer to this, is that there is no rule. The (postpositive) conjunction or particle only mark the left edge of a discourse domain, not the right. You have to tease out the right boundary by doing what everyone else does: attempt to recreate the structure of the work, using the left edges as a guide.
I think that "scope" here is one of those "foreign" words -- termini technici of Linguists -- that need to be translated into the vernacular for the rest of us. I found this, which may be helpful to others:s.v. "scope"
6.
Linguistics, Logic. the range of words or elements of an expression over which a modifier or operator has control:
In “old men and women,” “old” may either take “men and women” or just “men” in its scope.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Louis L Sorenson
Posts: 711
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 9:21 pm
Location: Burnsville, MN, USA
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by Louis L Sorenson »

I would look into Denniston's The Greek Particles. It discusses all these at length· δέ, καί, κτλ.... http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=world ... +particles
MAubrey
Posts: 1090
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 8:52 pm
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by MAubrey »

Here's an explanation of scope in cartoon form:

Image
Mike Aubrey, Linguist
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com
Jonathan Robie
Posts: 4159
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Nice cartoon, Mike! And a good demonstration of why sentence diagrams are useful for showing the interpretation of a sentence.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Jonathan Robie
Posts: 4159
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Stephen Carlson wrote:As far as I am aware, and I've looked for an answer to this, is that there is no rule. The (postpositive) conjunction or particle only mark the left edge of a discourse domain, not the right. You have to tease out the right boundary by doing what everyone else does: attempt to recreate the structure of the work, using the left edges as a guide.
For postpositives, at least the ones that start sentences, the right edge will always be at a clause boundary, right?

I just noticed that Funk is fairly explicit about the units that are joined by conjunctions in IV. Function Words, chapters 41. Function Words, 42. Conjunctions, 43. Sentence Connectors are all explicit about the units that are joined or negated.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Stephen Carlson
Posts: 3351
Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Jonathan Robie wrote:For postpositives, at least the ones that start sentences, the right edge will always be at a clause boundary, right?
Not necessarily with μὲν ... δὲ ... . But generally, the right edge will be a clause boundary, but the problem is whether that end the sentence, the paragraph, or the chapter.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Jonathan Robie
Posts: 4159
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Re: Scope of conjunctions

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Stephen Carlson wrote:
Jonathan Robie wrote:For postpositives, at least the ones that start sentences, the right edge will always be at a clause boundary, right?
Not necessarily with μὲν ... δὲ ...
Can you give examples where the scope of μὲν ... δὲ ... does not align with clause boundaries?
Stephen Carlson wrote:But generally, the right edge will be a clause boundary, but the problem is whether that end the sentence, the paragraph, or the chapter.
For the purposes of syntax or sentence tree diagramming, we don't normally go beyond a sentence, so paragraphs and chapters don't come into view. But of course δέ, γάρ, οὖν, ὁ δέ, μὲν ... δέ ..., etc. connect sentences, so you can't really describe their function without going beyond sentence boundaries.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
Post Reply

Return to “Syntax and Grammar”