RandallButh wrote:you might want to ask if your interest is Greek itself, or the development of IndoEuropean
Well, because IE was spoken of highly in A.T. Robertson, I have spent some time pursuing an interest in it. Now, I think there is an opportunity to bring some of that learning to bear on an issue. Greek is broadly speaking a part of IE.
RandallButh wrote: I feel that a lot of participial usage has dropped between 19th century English and 21st century English.
That is quite a different topic. Doesn't that have to do with the decline of classical education and subsequent freedom to express English in more idiomatic (uneducated) terms?
RandallButh wrote:Always make sure that the Greek works on its own and can be justified on its own grounds
Are there currently ready answers for even basic things to orientate a discussion on syntax - things such as "Did the use of participles increase, decline or change role in the formation of the Koine?" "What genre of classical Greek does participle usage most replicate stem from?" There are a few oblique comments here and there about differences, but it seems to me that the generation of those who saw clearly the differences between the one and the other passed in the early 20th century.
In the case of Greek itself, even at a most basic level, it would be interesting to see whether the usage of participles actually increased or deceased over the life of Greek. My initial impression is that the participle is used more in Koine than in Classical. In a page of Homer, there may be 4 or 5 participles (just from looking at a few pages). In a page of one of the Gospels, there are certainly more.
That raises the question as to whether the distinction is between prose and verse for the use of participles. Or whether it is a diachronic development within Greek. Since Homer is the first in a preserved series, it would be interesting to see what was potentially before that series.
If we accept that the Baltic languages are the linguistically best "preserved" of the IE family, and Sanskrit is both the next best preserved linguistically, and that it has a wide range of literature across a number of genres then there could be some benefit to looking into them.
Well, while I find IE interesting, I would like to apply that I acquired while pursuing that interest now to Greek.
RandallButh wrote:Then there are potential problems of cirularity.
I admit that the investigation into them could produce circular results. If we assume that both the Greek Epic poetry and the Rigveda are verse, and the discussion sections in the Upanishads (philosophical discussions) are examples of polished prose, then perhaps seeing a parallel in both languages in the similar genres would naively lead one to believe that participles were a mark of thought out scholarly style (as if memory serves me they are in Baltic languages).
RandallButh wrote:a little Sanskrit may do more harm than good.
Yes, that is true. I did read through a number of Sanskrit grammars when I was studying the language, and it is clear that the system of the language is formidable. I think that we can assume that simply listing the finding of others would be of secondary benefit and without an overall understanding to contextualise certain points, they could easily be misplaced (like flipping through the index and just making oneself sound good by making highfalutin statements).
My proposition is to put up some (tagged) texts from different genres and work through the syntax with especial reference to participles.