The Greek Verbal Network Viewed from a Probabilistic Standpoint 17 using the terminology of markedness on the basis of distribution, with the more heavily marked term the one that is less frequent than the less heavily marked term. In summary, Halliday’s work provides three theoretical constructs that present themselves in support of the use of quantitative data in linguistic analysis: (1) grammar as paradigmatic choice, that is, the view of lan- guage as a network of systems, (2) language as both system and instance, and (3) the typology of systems as either equiprobable (both of the terms are equally likely to occur) or skewed (one of the terms is unmarked and the other is marked). In the remainder of this paper we will utilize these three concepts for the quantitative analysis of the Greek verbal network. 3. The Greek Verbal Network The verbal network of the Greek of the New Testament lends itself to paradigmatic modelling, as has been illustrated at length elsewhere 63. The diagram in Appendix A is a system network that contains 14 systems and captures the semantics of the Greek verb. Networks must contain realiza- tion statements, which show how selection of particular semantic features (selection expressions) are translated into the formal substance of the lan- guage itself (realization). The terms of each system of the verbal network find realization in verbal forms 64. The original network presented in Verbal Aspect covered only the systems for aspectuality and aspect realized by tense-forms, and for finiteness and attitude, realized by mood forms. There was also the major sub-system for remoteness, realized by present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect indicative forms. All of this was in line with the major thesis of the work 65. The remaining three verbal systems have now been added to the network: CAUSALITY, NUMBER, and PARTICI- PATION. CAUSALITY is one of the three major systems in the Greek verbal network, and involves a set of simultaneous choices with the other two, leading to two further sub-systems, realized by the Greek voice system. The first system requires choice between +active (realized by the active voice form) and –active. The choice of –active is the entry condition for the required choice of +passive (realized by the passive voice form) or +ergative (realized by the middle voice form) 66. The NUMBER system, rea- lized by singular and plural forms, requires that one have chosen either 63 See Porter, Verbal Aspect, esp. pp. 89-90, 93-97, 109. 64 Porter, Verbal Aspect, p. 13. Cf. Fawcett, Cognitive Linguistics and Social Interaction, pp. 50-53, 115-24; C.S. Butler, Systemic Linguistics: Theory and Applications (London: Batsford, 1985), pp. 59-62. 65 Porter, Verbal Aspect, p. 109. 66 The concept of ergativity and the middle voice is being developed in Porter, Voice in the Greek of the New Testament.