"Aspect" in the syntax of the verb in the poems of Homer : the testing of a theory

Abstract

In this thesis I have restricted my study of aspect in the verb In Homeric Greek in several Ways. Firstly, I have adopted as a working hypothesis one modern account of ancient Greek Aspect, that of K.L. McKay, and have concentrated more on testing this theory against the text of the Iliad and the odyssey than on theoretical argument. Secondly, I have restricted my analysis of Aspectual categories to four books – K,P,B,W – which represent earlier and later elements in both epics, to the extent that I have aimed to take account of all relevant examples in these books, and to supplement these from other books where the four provided too few examples for reasonable consideration. My first chapter is mainly concerned with outlining the terminology and conceptual framework which I have employed in it, I have tried to argue that there is in the Homeric verbal system a category called aspect and that this category is a dominant one. I have tried to show, however, both here and throughout the remainder of the thesis, how this category is influenced by the twin factors of context and the speaker’s will be become an extremely subtle instrument of expression. The second chapter contains a brief sketch of the history of theorizing on Aspectual phenomena, which I felt was needed to show what approaches to the subject were possible (without attempting to cover everything written about it, especially by twentieth-century authors). In the third chapter, I have turned my attention to the Imperfective, nothing the main theoretical approach to it, and showing how my chosen hypothesis suits the text of the four selected books, with some reference to other books. Chapter four and five apply the same procedure to the Aorist and Perfect Aspects. In chapter six I have drawn on the whole of the two epics to argue that the future holds an anomalous position in the Homeric verbal system, retaining some of its original Modal characteristics but tending to acquire almost the status of a fourth aspect. In the next two chapters I have similarly used the entire text of both poems to argue that aspectual usage in the Imperative and in the similes, respectively, is essentially the same as in the core chapters (especially three and four). In chapter nine I have drawn attention to the interaction of Aspects in narrative passages to form patterns which give the narrative life and a certain dramatic movement, and have illustrated these in a couple of extended passaged selected at random. Chapter ten summarizes my conclusions and draws attention to ideas which are crucial to the study of Aspect in ancient Greek. Appendix I, on the comparison between the Homeric Aspectual system and those of Russian and Modern Greek, is an attempt to show that all three are basically different and that any to equate them leads only to distortion of each. It has been my general practice to transliterate names from the Greek as precisely as possible, the main exceptions being the name Homer and those of the two poems. Also in listing examples (as distinct from citing a few for purpose of illustration), I have generally followed the pattern: K, P, B, W.