162 Stephen H. Levinsohn storyline of narrative discourse”4. When it comes to the “prominence” or “dynamicity”5 of the tense-forms, however, they hold very different positions, as the following table shows6. aorist imperfect historical present perfect Porter unmarked foreground, remote in foreground frontground (“background”) staging Longacre foreground background secondary storyline (low dynamicity)7 Although Porter refers to the aorist as “the background tense”8, it is clear from other comments that he uses “background” in the sense of “unmarked for prominence”9. Longacre’s use of the term “background” is different and corresponds more closely to the dictionary definition: “explanatory or contributory information or circumstances”10. Even with this clarification, though, it is clear that the two men hold opposing views, particularly on the prominence of the imperfect. To illustrate the problem, consider the main verbs used to report the conversation of Mark 15,11-15 between Pilate and the crowd. But the chief priests incited (ἀνέσεισαν) the crowd to have Pilate release 15,11 aorist Barabbas instead. Pilate in response was again saying (ἔλεγεν) to them, 12 imperfect “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” 13 They again shouted (ἔκραξαν), “Crucify him!” aorist 14a Pilate was saying (ἔλεγεν), “Why? What crime has he committed?” imperfect 4 S.E. Porter, “Prominence: An Overview”, in S.E. Porter and M. Brook O’Donnell (eds.), The Linguist as Pedagogue: Trends in the Teaching and Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament (Sheffield 2009) 57. Longacre writes in similar vein: “For the most part, then, the storyline of koine Greek narrative is carried by clauses with verbs in the aorist” (R.E. Longacre, “Mark 5.1-43: Generating the Complexity of a Narrative from its Most Basic Elements”, in S.E. Porter and J.T. Reed (eds.), Discourse Analysis and the New Testa- ment: Approaches and Results [Sheffield 1999] 177). 5 Longacre Mark 5 179. 6 Fanning makes a similar point (B. Fanning, Greek Presents, Imperfects, and Aorists in the Synoptic Gospels: Their Contribution to Narrative Structuring [SBL, November 2009] 11-13). 7 The dynamicity of the perfect is not discussed in Longacre, Mark 5, but does feature in other articles written by him. 8 Porter, Prominence 60. 9 Westfall calls the aorist the “unmarked” aspect (C.L. Westfall, “A Method for the Analysis of Prominence in Hellenistic Greek”, in S.E. Porter and M. Brook O’Donnell (eds.), The Linguist as Pedagogue: Trends in the Teaching and Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament [Sheffield 2009] 79). 10 Oxford English Dictionary.