Stanley E. Porter - Matthew Brook O’Donnell, «The Greek Verbal Network Viewed from a Probabilistic
Standpoint: An Exercise in Hallidayan Linguistics», Vol. 14 (2001) 3-41
This study explores numerical or distributional
markedness in the verbal network of the Greek of the New Testament. It
extends the systemic analysis of Porter (Verbal Aspect in the Greek of
the New Testament, 1989), making use of the Hallidayan concept of
probabilistic grammar, which posits a typology of systems where features
are either "equiprobable".both features are equally distributed
(0.5/0.5).or "skewed".one feature is marked by its low frequency of
occurrence (0.9/0.1). The results confirm that the verbal aspect system of
the Greek of the New Testament is essentially independent of other verbal
systems, such as voice and mood.
The Greek Verbal Network Viewed from a Probabilistic Standpoint 37
The tenth set of examples concerns the relation of the CAUSALITY
system and ASPECT2 system. This set of systemic choices concerns the
options of ±active and +imperfective/+stative (systems 5 and 3). Choice
of ±active does not affect the choice of +imperfective/+stative (0.89/0.11
and 0.79/0.21, respectively), resulting in skewed distributional results
consistent with system 3. Choice of +imperfective similarly results in a
slightly skewed distribution regarding choice of ±active (0.75/0.25), con-
sistent with system 5. However, choice of +stative results in a more equi-
probable distribution in choice of ±active (0.58/0.42), rather than a ske-
wed distribution. The distributional results here indicate some effect on
the CAUSALITY system by the ASPECT2 system, but no effect of the CAUSA-
LITY system on the ASPECT2 system.102
11. CAUSALITY (5) and REMOTENESS (4)
Realization Statements:
+active –remote >> Present & Perfect Active
–active –remote >> Present, Perfect Middle & Passive
+active +remote >> Imperfect & Pluperfect Active
–active +remote >> Imperfect, Pluperfect Middle & Passive
–remote +remote
+active ........................ 8032 0.72 955 0.77 8987 0.73
–active ........................ 3106 0.28 290 0.23 3396 0.27
+active –active
–remote ........................ 8032 0.89 3106 0.91 11138 0.90
+remote ...................... 955 0.11 290 0.09 1245 0.10
The eleventh set of examples concerns the relation of the CAUSALITY
system and REMOTENESS system. This set of systemic choices concerns the
options of ±active and ±remote (systems 5 and 4). Choice of ±active
results in skewed distribution in favour of –remote over +remote
(0.89/0.11 and 0.91/0.09, respectively). Choice of –remote/+remote
results in a generally skewed distribution in favour of +active over –active
(0.72/0.28 and 0.77/0.23, respectively) consonant with system 5. Again,
the results are easy to summarize here, in that neither the CAUSALITY
system nor the REMOTENESS system is affected by choice in either system.
102
See Porter, Voice in the Greek of the New Testament, for discussion.
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