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Degree

Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Linguistics, 2009.

Abstract

This study analyzes one Koine Greek verb erchomai ‘go/come’ and one preverb eis- and how the preverb affects the verb’s lexical aspect. To determine the lexical aspect of erchomai and eis-erchomai, I annotate all instances of both verbs in the Greek New Testament and develop methodology for researching aktionsart in texts. Several tests for lexical aspect which might be applied to texts are proposed. Applying some of these tests to erchomai and eiserchomai, I determine that erchomai is an activity and eiserchomai is telic. A discussion of the Koine tense/aspect forms and their temporal and aspectual reference is included. I adopt Dowty’s 1979 aspect calculus to explain how eis- affects the lexical aspect of erchomai, using his CAUSE and BECOME operators to account for the meaning of eis-, which denotes an endpoint to motion such that the subject must be at a given location at the end of an interval over which eiserchomai is true.

Subject Headings

Linguistics

Keywords

Koine Greek; Greek; preverb; aktionsart; lexical aspect; erchomai; eis; Aorist; imperfective; grammatical aspect; aspect; linguistics; semantics; lexical semantics; telicity; New Testament; verbal prefix

Committee / Advisors

Judith Tonhauser, PhD (Advisor)
Brian Joseph, PhD (Advisor)
Craige Roberts, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

129p.

Document number: osu1238085936
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1238085936

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