[b-greek] Definition of Greek Sentence and Word Order in Hebrews

From: Mark Beatty (marksresearch@hawaii.rr.com)
Date: Tue Jul 31 2001 - 16:33:33 EDT


Dear B-greekers,

My definition of a 'sentence' is like my definition of 'subject' and
'object'. They are not technical terms but are a short hand for a more
technical definition or a variety of more technical definitions. 'Sentence'
is not one of the primitives in my revised minimalism program (RMP)--but
neither is clause.

For me sentence is a short hand notation for, "tensed IP and all those
constituents connected configurationally." I rarely use the term "clause"
alone but probably could use it as a short hand notation for "non tensed IP
and all those constituents connected configurationally." This would handle
infinitival and participial clauses (infinitives and participles are not
tensed) but this definition would not handle relative clauses. Thus I would
have to add to my definition of clause, "or a tensed clause with an overt
complementizer." Hope this helps.

Another approach to this question is to do an ethnolinguistic study. For
example, on Thu 6/21/2001 11:09 AM Cindy Westfall wrote,

"The other concern is that there are a number of other verses in Hebrews
where God is the subject of a verb besides the ten you mentioned.
Furthermore, in 1:1, 6:13, 6:17 and 13:20, the order is SV, though apart
from 1:1 the sentence structure is quite complicated."

What did Cindy mean by 'sentence' here? Her definition is the essence of her
criticism of my theory. She apparently is claiming that these 'complex'
sentences are equivalent to 'normal' sentences and thus concludes that word
order should be the same.

Let me propose a different analysis than Cindy gave. (By the way, we should
always ask whether our definitions of our primitives are supported by
empiric evidence. As conflicting evidence is discovered, we should fine tune
our theories and the terms we use to communicate our theories.)

I propose that the "SV" word orders in Hebrews 1:1, 6:13, 6:17 and 13:20 are
not "constituents connected configurationally." (In other words, I suggest
that these 'structures' do not check case and theta features in a minimal
c-command chain.) Rather I suggest that these are related in a way
traditionally called 'apposition'. I further claim that putting these
'structures' in apposition is as 'uneconomic' as using the VS structure. If
this is true, then the empiric details of word order and discourse structure
of Hebrews support my definition of 'sentence'.

I apologize for all my technical jargon, but the terms 'sentence' and
'clause' are short hand notations for other things and are not sufficient to
address the empiric details of any language. Technical jargon, therefore, is
needed, as long as the jargon is consistent and supported by empiric
evidence.

Very Respectfully,

Mark Beatty










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