DISCOURSE CONSIDERATIONS
13.1. It has become increasingly common for Greek grammars to include a section on discourse analysis.1 Discourse analysis, or text-linguistics, is a burgeoning area of interest in biblical studies, though NT scholarship has tended to lag behind OT scholarship in this area.2 There is not “one method” of discourse analysis, and it is not the purpose of this section to provide a full-blown discussion of it or a method for its use. Rather, this chapter will attempt merely to be suggestive and to demonstrate and illustrate how Greek grammar can be used in analyzing discourse. Much of the discussion in the previous chapters has tried to keep discourse considerations in mind. Therefore, some of the material that follows will synthesize material from previous chapters.
Discourse analysis is nothing less than the recognition that texts are the record of an act of communication in a given context.3 Discourse “refers to texts (meaningful combinations of language units) which serve various communicative purposes and perform various acts in situational, social, and cultural contexts.”4 One of the main tenets of discourse analysis is that language should be examined beyond the level of just the sentence or clause.5 Traditionally, most grammatical analysis of the NT has taken place at the level of the word, phrase, and sentence, but discourse analysis ranges beyond this to observe larger stretches of text, extending to an entire NT book. Words make up phrases, and phrases make up clauses. Clauses make up paragraphs, and paragraphs compose entire discourses. This requires that our analysis move beyond the sentence level to larger units. Grammar plays an important role in indicating how the discourse is structured, how it coheres, how information is presented, and the role that various actors or participants play in the text. A discourse approach to grammar supplements more traditional approaches rather than replacing them. It simply asks what discourse task is performed by various grammatical constructions.
The goal of this section is to introduce the student to several important features of discourse analysis and, in the process, to encourage the Greek student to move away from playing “pin the label on the grammatical construction” to actually analyzing Greek grammar. We urge students to pay more attention to how grammar functions in relationship to other features in discourse, how it functions over longer stretches of discourse, and to consider important patterns of usage. The remainder of this chapter examines just four important features of discourse analysis, looking at how they contribute to grammatical analysis and how grammar performs discourse level tasks. These four features have been chosen because they commonly figure in discourse studies of the NT. The following sections synthesize information from a number of works on discourse analysis.
Cohesion
13.2. Most discourses, at some level, are meant to be coherent. We assume that the NT authors were trying to make sense and communicate something to readers and that the various units that make up their discourses are meant to be related in some way (in other words, discourses are understandable, as opposed to being a string of unrelated, jumbled statements that make no sense).6 Cohesion refers to the linguistic elements that an author uses to weave a discourse together. Cohesion links something in the text to something that has come before it. These linguistic elements provide signals for readers, showing how the discourse has been constructed and how readers should put it together. According to Young, “cohesion is the glue that holds a discourse together” (254). Various means are used in the NT to provide cohesion.
Organic Ties
13.3. One of the clearest means of creating cohesion is through what can be called organic ties. This refers simply to the system of conjunctions and connectors in a language that establish various kinds of relationships.7 Conjunctions make up the logical system of the Greek language (see chap. 12, on dependent clauses).8 They are important clues as to how a particular discourse is organized. For example, notice the following: “First, you pour all the ingredients into a large bowl. Then you stir them together until well mixed. Then you pour the entire mixture over the cake. After that, you place the cake and mixture in the oven.” The connectors “first,” “then,” and “after that” serve to create cohesion by indicating a sequence.
13.4. Mark 6:1–29. In this section of Mark, cohesion is provided largely through the repetition of καί, which introduces main clauses and links them together. In verses 14–20 the conjunctions δέ and γάρ predominate, providing further developmental material and explanation. The author then returns to καί to introduce and link clauses but uses his well-known καὶ εὐθύς in verse 27 to draw attention to the main turning point in the story, the beheading of John the Baptist (Porter 305).
13.5. Colossians. The various units of Col. 2:6–4:1 are linked with the inferential conjunction οὖν (2:6, 16; 3:1, 5, 12), which gives cohesion to this section. The conjunction οὖν also establishes boundaries in the discourse.
13.6. Hebrews 10:19–30. The author begins with οὖν, which draws an inference from the preceding argument (5:1–10:18). Within 10:19–25 clauses are linked together by καί, with γάρ providing supporting material for one of the exhortations in verse 23. Verses 26–30 are linked to verses 19–25 with γάρ, which suggests that this section provides supporting material giving a reason for the exhortations in verses 19–25.9
Cohesive Ties
13.7. Another way of creating cohesion is through what are known as cohesive ties.10 These refer to the words an author uses to form relationships between different words in the discourse. A “chain of reference” can be built up in a discourse by words that refer to the same person or entity.
13.8. Repetition. The repetition of the same lexical item can create cohesion in discourse. This is a common cohesive device. The repetition of the lexical items σάρξ and πνεῦμα throughout Rom. 8:1–30 creates cohesion in that section.
13.9. Pronouns (reference). Cohesion can be created through pronouns that refer to something mentioned in the discourse. In the sentence “Jim purchased the bike in the store; then he decided to ride it home,” the pronoun “it” refers back to the noun “bike” so that “it” cannot be understood apart from its referent, “bike.” The personal pronoun “he” refers back to “Jim.” In Col. 2:8–13 cohesion is created by a series of personal and relative pronouns that refer back to Christ in verses 9 and 11: Χριστόν (v. 8) . . . ἐν αὐτῷ (v. 9) . . . ἐν αὐτῷ . . . ὅς ἐστιν (v. 10) . . . ἐν ᾧ . . . τοῦ Χριστοῦ (v. 11) . . . αὐτῷ . . . ἐν ᾧ . . . αὐτὸν (v. 12) . . . σὺν αὐτῷ (v. 13). A similar series of pronouns appears in Eph. 2:20–22.
13.10. Substitution. This occurs when one noun substitutes for another while still referring to the same person or entity. So when we say, “Jesus then addressed the crowd. . . . When the Lord had finished saying these things . . . ,” the word Jesus is replaced by Lord. Or when we say, “The man across the street bought a bike. His wife bought one too,” the word one is substituted for the word bike. By substituting one word with another, sentences can be linked together to form cohesion.
The word τῷ πατρί (father) substitutes for the designation ἄνθρωπός τις (a certain man) at the beginning of the parable.
13.11. Ellipsis. A further important cohesive device is ellipsis. This occurs when the repetition of a word, group of words, or clause can be left out because it is understood to be carried over from a previous clause. To give another English example, if a person answers “Five” to the question “How many deer did you see?” the answer has elided, or left unexpressed, the words “I saw _________ deer.” These words are assumed from the question “How many deer did you see?”
| οὐ μόνον δέ,a ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν, εἰδότες ὅτι ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμήν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα. (Rom. 5:3–4) | And not only [do we boast in the hope in God’s glory], but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance, and endurance [produces] proven character, and proven character [produces] hope. | |
| a Some ancient manuscripts insert τοῦτο here. | ||
The elements that have been left out and understood as carried over from the preceding context are placed in brackets at the appropriate place in the English translation.
Repetition of Grammatical Elements
13.12. Cohesion can also be indicated by the repetition of various grammatical forms, such as verbal aspect, mood, or other grammatical features such as an anaphoric article.
13.13. Ephesians 4:25–6:20. Cohesion in this section is indicated by both tense-form and mood: a series of present-tense imperatives.
13.14. Revelation 5. This chapter introduces two new elements into John’s visionary narrative: the scroll and the Lamb. Both are referred to the first time without an article (i.e., they are anarthrous): βιβλίον (v. 1); ἀρνίον (v. 6). Subsequent mentions of the scroll (vv. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9) and the Lamb (vv. 12, 13) have the article (i.e., they are arthrous), which functions anaphorically (see chap. 4, on the article) to refer back to their first mention in verse 1 and verse 6, creating cohesion in this section.
Boundaries and Units
13.15. The term boundaries refers to the means by which language indicates where one unit begins and another one ends. That is, “there should be a point at which the shift from one topic to the next is marked.”11 In written English, boundaries are usually indicated by the indentation that begins a new paragraph (although this can sometimes just be for eye appeal, since reading an entire page without a paragraph break is difficult),12 by the use of paragraph headings, or even by chapter titles. For Koine Greek, in the absence of punctuation, indentation, or paragraph headings in the original manuscripts, we must rely on other means to determine boundaries and units within a discourse.13
Boundaries are often signaled by a shift in such things as person, mood, number, or verbal aspect. Vocatives (e.g., ἀδελφοί) and conjunctions (e.g., δέ, οὖν, διὰ τοῦτο) also indicate boundaries in discourse, introducing new sections. In narrative, a change in time or place, a new cast of characters, or new roles for existing characters can indicate a shift to a new unit.14 A unit, or “grouping,” may be created by the clustering of patterns of repeated grammatical or lexical items.15 Units or groupings are ways an author organizes the material into manageable pieces. According to Dooley and Levinsohn, “humans typically process large amounts of information in CHUNKS, somewhat like we eat a meal in bites.”16 Again, grouping can be achieved through the repetition of such features as verbal aspect, mood, person, and lexical items.
These verses begin a new unit where the author shifts from aorist tense-forms and an imperfect form in the previous verses (10:48–52). The author introduces the unit with the use of narrative present tense-forms (ἐγγίζουσιν, ἀποστέλλει, λέγει) in verses 1–2, and also a shift to a different location (v. 1).
Romans 5:12–21 is marked off from the previous section (5:1–11) and the following one (6:1–11) by the διὰ τοῦτο that begins 5:12 and by the οὖν and shift to rhetorical questions that begin the next unit (6:1). That 5:12–21 constitutes a unit is also indicated by tense/aspect and person. Aorist tense-forms dominate in 5:12–21. Also, the entire unit is marked by the predominance of the third person. This stands in contrast to the previous unit (5:1–11), which is marked by first-person plural forms and contains a number of perfect and present tense-forms. The following unit (6:1–11) returns to first-person plural forms (ἐροῦμεν, ἐπιμένωμεν, ἀπεθάνομεν, ζήσομεν, πιστεύομεν) and present and perfect forms (ἐπιμένωμεν, ἀγνοεῖτε, γεγόναμεν, δεδικαίωται, πιστεύομεν, ἀποθνῄσκει, κυριεύει, λογίζεσθε in the midst of aorists). The first person plural and the present and perfect tenses also highlight 5:1–11 and 6:1–11 as the more prominent sections.
| Ἀγαπητοί, μὴ παντὶ πνεύματι πιστεύετε, ἀλλὰ δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα εἰ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν (1 John 4:1) | Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to see] if they are from God. |
Along with the switch to the imperative, the vocative ἀγαπητοί serves as a discourse boundary to mark off a new paragraph (4:1–6). The vocative ἀγαπητοί with the hortatory subjunctive in 4:7 serves as another boundary marker. Throughout 1 John the vocative often functions in this way.17
In Rev. 4–5 the repetition of the lexical item θρόνος (throne) indicates a unit: 4:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10; 5:1, 6, 7, 11, 13. A different set of images dominates in Rev. 6 (e.g., horses, plagues), with a shift in location from heaven to earth and new characters (e.g., horses and their riders) or new roles for already-existing characters (the Lamb, four living creatures).
Prominence
13.16. This is one of the most important aspects of discourse analysis.18 “Prominence” refers to the way that certain parts of a discourse stick out and are more important than other parts. For example, speech is boring if it is delivered with a monotone voice. Variation in tone, volume, or speed of delivery (as well as hand and body gestures) can be used to highlight parts of an oral delivery. The same is true of written discourse, though it must use other, textual means of indicating prominence. For our purposes, prominence refers to the linguistic means that an author uses to highlight or make some part(s) of the text stand out in some way.19 Some features of a discourse are foregrounded, while others play a background role.20 Once again, there are various grammatical means of indicating this. Often prominence is established when an author departs from a normal grammatical pattern; that is, when there is discontinuity from what has gone before in the discourse.21 The following are just some of the ways that prominence can be indicated by grammatical choice. The interpreter can be the most confident that prominence is being indicated when several of the following indicators converge.
Verbal Aspect
13.17. One important indicator of prominence is verbal aspect. By indicating the author’s perspective on a process, variations in aspect can serve to indicate levels of prominence.22 As we saw in chapter 6 above, on aspect, in narrative the aorist tense-form provides the backbone and summarizes the primary events on the main story line. The imperfect tense fills in background information, and the present tense foregrounds important information in the discourse. The perfect tense-form, being rare in narrative, is a further means of highlighting material and placing it in the foreground. In epistolary literature the aorist provides the background or grounding for the more important thematic material found in the present tense. The perfect tense may also sometimes indicate highlighted information. This does not mean that verbal aspect always indicates relative prominence, that this is the main thing it does or that this is the meaning of the aspects themselves. Yet it is one important way that aspect can function in certain contexts. For examples of its indicating prominence, recall the discussions of John 20 and 1 John 2 in §6.6. Only two further illustrations are given here.
In Rev. 5 the aorist tense is used throughout to summarize the main events of the narrative and carry the story along. The imperfect tense is used in verse 4 (ἔκλαιον) to indicate supplementary actions off the main story line and in verse 14 (ἔλεγον) to conclude the narrative. The present tense, then, is used to highlight significant speeches throughout the chapter (λέγει, v. 5; ᾄδουσιν, v. 9) and the command not to weep (κλαῖε, v. 5). The present-tense λέγει in verse 5 contrasts with the imperfect ἔκλαιον in verse 4. The off-line imperfect is used to describe John’s response to the dilemma of not finding anyone worthy to open the scroll, while the present tense-form is used to draw attention to the answer. The perfect tense is then used in the midst of aorists to mark the most crucial act of the scene, the transference of the scroll from the hand of God to the Lamb in verse 7 (εἴληφεν).23
| πάντες γὰρ ἥμαρτον καὶ ὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ (Rom. 3:23) | For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. |
The aorist-tense ἥμαρτον signals background information, summarizing what the readers already know from the author’s argument in Rom. 1:18–3:20—all are under sin. The present-tense ὑστεροῦνται is foregrounded, introducing new information—the latter further defines what the sinning entails: it is falling short of God’s glory.
Word and Clause Order
13.18. The order in which words are arranged in clauses tends to follow established patterns. When there is deviation from them, the “dislocated” word is usually foregrounded. For example, the normal position of a noun in the genitive is after its head term (the noun it modifies). Departure from this indicates that the word in the genitive is prominent. Also, when a subject of a clause is expressed, “it is often used either to draw attention to the subject of discussion or to mark a shift in the topic, perhaps signaling that a new person or event is the center of focus” (Porter 296–97). When the subject is placed at the beginning of the clause, it serves to “mark this emphasis or shift from the outset of the clause” (Porter 297). In discourse the primary clauses are the most salient, since they serve to move the discourse forward. Secondary and embedded clauses play a backgrounding or supporting role. As seen in our earlier discussion of clauses (chap. 11), some secondary clauses (e.g., conditional clauses) normally precede the main clause, while others (e.g., purpose, cause, and relative clauses) tend to follow. When this pattern is broken (e.g., when the conditional clause comes at the end), the information in the secondary clause is likely to be prominent.24
| καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ταῦτά σοι πάντα δώσω, ἐὰν πεσὼν προσκυνήσῃς μοι. (Matt. 4:9) | And he [i.e., Satan] said to him [i.e., Jesus], “All these things I will give to you, if, falling down, you worship me.” |
The placing of the protasis (“if . . .”) after the apodosis gives it prominence. Notice the usual order with the first two conditional sentences in verses 3 and 6.
| Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς προσκαλεσάμενος τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ εἶπεν· Σπλαγχνίζομαι ἐπὶ τὸν ὄχλον (Matt. 15:32) | And Jesus, summoning his disciples, said, “I have compassion on the crowd.” |
The subject, Jesus, is foregrounded by its placement before the participle and verb. Contrast the order in verse 34, where the subject, again Jesus, comes after the verb.
| ἐὰν εἴπῃ ὁ πούς· Ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ χείρ, οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος; καὶ ἐὰν εἴπῃ τὸ οὖς· Ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὀφθαλμός, οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος· (1 Cor. 12:15–16) | If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it is not for this reason not a part of the body, is it? And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it is not for this reason not part of the body, is it? |
The causal clauses come before the main verbs for emphasis (see also Gal. 4:6).
| εἰ ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοῦ δοῦλος οὐκ ἂν ἤμην. (Gal. 1:10) | If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. |
The genitive precedes the noun it modifies, and so Christ is foregrounded.
| μνημόνευε οὖν πόθεν πέπτωκας, καὶ μετανόησον καὶ τὰ πρῶτα ἔργα ποίησον· εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι, καὶ κινήσω τὴν λυχνίαν σου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῆς, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσῃς. (Rev. 2:5) | Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works. But if not, I will come to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent. |
The protasis of the class 3 conditional comes after the main clause in order to highlight the need for repentance (repeating the imperative “repent” at the beginning of the verse).
13.19. Clauses that are left-dislocated (also called cleft constructions) are also prominent. They often highlight a new topic. This sort of construction occurs when a group of words or a clause containing information that could function as part of the main clause (e.g., direct object, indirect object) is detached and placed at the front (to the left when reading from left to right, hence “left-dislocated”) of the sentence (see the discussion of the so-called hanging nominative in chap. 1). The left-dislocated information is usually picked up with a pronoun in the main clause.25 In English someone might say, “My doctor, I really think she is the best I have had.” The dislocated element (“My doctor”) could have been used in the main clause (“I really think my doctor is the best I have had”), but it is removed from the main clause, placed out front, and then picked up with the pronoun “she” in the main clause. In Greek, dislocation has the effect of announcing or shifting to a new topic. The dislocated information is foregrounded.26
| οὓς δὲ προώρισεν, τούτους καὶ ἐκάλεσεν· καὶ οὓς ἐκάλεσεν, τούτους καὶ ἐδικαίωσεν· οὓς δὲ ἐδικαίωσεν, τούτους καὶ ἐδόξασεν. (Rom. 8:30) | Whom he predestined, these he also called; and whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these he will also glorify. |
Here each relative clause, introduced by the relative pronoun οὔς, is placed in front of the main clause and picked up with a demonstrative pronoun (τούτους) in the main clause, drawing attention to the relative clause.
| ὁ δὲ παρακύψας εἰς νόμον τέλειον τὸν τῆς ἐλευθερίας καὶ παραμείνας, οὐκ ἀκροατὴς ἐπιλησμονῆς γενόμενος ἀλλὰ ποιητὴς ἔργου, οὗτος μακάριος ἐν τῇ ποιήσει αὐτοῦ ἔσται. (James 1:25) | But the one who looks into the perfect law of freedom and remains, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of works, this one will be blessed in his/her activity. |
The substantival participles are placed outside of the main clause and then picked up with the demonstrative pronoun, οὗτος. This construction shifts the topic to and draws attention to the correct response to the word, in contrast to the incorrect response in verses 23–24 and the ἀκροατὴς ἐπιλησμονῆς in verse 25.
| Οὗτοι οἱ περιβεβλημένοι τὰς στολὰς τὰς λευκὰς τίνες εἰσὶν καὶ πόθεν ἦλθον; (Rev. 7:13) | These who are clothed with white robes, who are they and from where did they come? |
The dislocated element is οὗτοι οἱ περιβεβλημένοι, which is picked up with the interrogative τίνες.
13.20. Since Greek is an inflected language, it does not always need to encode (i.e., refer explicitly to) the participant in the form of an expressed nominal subject. When an entity is introduced for the first time or reintroduced after an absence in the discourse or when there is a need to avoid ambiguity, an explicit reference to the subject is usually necessary (see below, on participants). When not required, a specific reference to the subject is “often used either to draw attention to the subject of discussion or to mark a shift in the topic” (Porter 295–96). Furthermore, any “expansion with more marked cases or participial and prepositional phrases increases the focus on the new participant.”27 This is because more information is given than is necessary (overspecification).
| μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται. (Matt. 5: 4) | Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. |
The pronoun is not necessary since the subject is clear from the preceding clause. Its inclusion draws attention to “those who mourn.”
| Ἀνὴρ δέ τις ἐν Καισαρείᾳ ὀνόματι Κορνήλιος, ἑκατοντάρχης ἐκ σπείρης τῆς καλουμένης Ἰταλικῆς, εὐσεβὴς καὶ φοβούμενος τὸν θεὸν σὺν παντὶ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ, ποιῶν ἐλεημοσύνας πολλὰς τῷ λαῷ καὶ δεόμενος τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ παντός (Acts 10:1–2) | And there was a certain man in Caesarea by the name Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian cohort, devout and fearing God along with all his household, giving much alms to the people and beseeching God in everything. |
The introduction of Cornelius undergoes heavy expansion in the form of adjectives and participles; by providing this fuller description, the author draws special attention to the introduction of this new participant in the narrative.
| Τούτου χάριν ἐγὼ Παῦλος ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐθνῶν (Eph. 3:1) | For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you gentiles. |
After the full mention of the author in the introduction (1:1), there is no need to keep referring to himself in the first person. The reference to Paul with the personal pronoun ἐγώ, which is expanded both by his name and by the phrase ὁ δέσμιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ in apposition, adds prominence to this section.
| καὶ ἐβλήθη ὁ δράκων ὁ μέγας, ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος, ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς, ὁ πλανῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην—ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν γῆν (Rev. 12:9) | And he was thrown, the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, the one who deceived the entire inhabited world—he was thrown to earth. |
The piling up of phrases in apposition to ὁ δράκων makes the dragon a highly prominent participant in this chapter of Revelation.
Attention Markers and Deictic Markers
13.21. The Greek of the NT uses a number of forms that grab the reader’s attention and point out important features in the discourse. The most important attention markers are ἰδού, ἴδε, and ἄγε. The marker ἰδού is sometimes used to indicate a main participant in narrative.28 The demonstratives οὗτος and ὧδε can also function as important deictic (pointing) devices that point to something in close proximity and hence are emphatic.
| Ἀναχωρησάντων δὲ αὐτῶν ἰδοὺ ἄγγελος κυρίου φαίνεται κατʼ ὄναρ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ λέγων· (Matt. 2:13) | And when they had departed, look, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying. |
The marker ἰδού emphasizes the appearance of the angelic being, which is also supported by the use of the narrative present tense-form.
| Ἀκούετε. ἰδοὺ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων σπεῖραι. (Mark 4:3) | Listen! Look, a sower came to sow. |
This is doubly emphatic, with an imperative call to hear followed by ἰδού, which draws attention to the sower and probably the entire parable.
The presence of ὧδε draws attention to the first part of the verse and also foregrounds the hortatory nature of chapter 13 as a call for endurance and faithfulness.
Expansion
13.22. One way of indicating prominence is through significant expansion of elements in the main clause. When an author is using sentences of a certain length and then changes the length of sentences through significant expansion, this often indicates prominence.29 That is, the expanded section sticks out from the surrounding context. Expansion usually occurs through pronounced modification (adjectives, adverbs, participles, subordinate clauses, prepositional phrases, etc.).
| Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί, πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαρὰν ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἔχοντες, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες, μηδὲν κατʼ ἐριθείαν μηδὲ κατὰ κενοδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀλλήλους ἡγούμενοι ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν, μὴ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστοι σκοποῦντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων ἕκαστοι. (Phil. 2:1–4) | If [there is], therefore, any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any compassion and mercy, fill my joy by thinking the same thing, having the same love, united in soul, being of one mind, [doing] nothing according to selfish ambition nor according to conceit, but in humility regarding each other as more important than yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each to those of others. |
The expansion of the main verb πληρώσατε, through considerable modification preceding and following the imperative, gives prominence to Paul’s appeal to the Philippians; notice the four verbless protases (if-clauses) of class 1 conditions that precede the main verb.
| Καὶ εἶδον ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τῶν τεσσάρων ζῴων καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀρνίον ἑστηκὸς ὡς ἐσφαγμένον, ἔχων κέρατα ἑπτὰ καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἑπτά, οἵ εἰσιν τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀπεσταλμένοι εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. (Rev. 5:6) | And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent into all the earth. |
The reference to the Lamb (ἀρνίον) as the key participant is made prominent through significant modification by means of spatial prepositional phrases, participle clauses, and a relative clause. Even the modifiers get modified (“eyes,” “spirits”).
| καὶ αὐτὸς πατεῖ τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ παντοκράτορος. (Rev. 19:15) | And he tramples the winepress of the wine of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty. |
Expansion occurs through the piling up of genitives, which serves to draw attention to God’s wrath and judgment. Noticing the expansion is more important than just labeling each genitive (e.g., as possession, source, objective).
Participants
13.23. The participants of a discourse are the actors associated with the processes, which are expressed with verbs. They are usually the subjects and complements (the direct objects and indirect objects) of the verbs. Participants in discourse, especially in narrative, identify “who is doing what to whom.”30 How the participants are referred to is significant for determining the role they play, or their status.
13.24. When a participant is introduced for the first time, it is usually with full coding, as a noun and any modifiers that go with it. Sometimes in narrative a participant will be introduced with a verbless clause or a verb of being like εἰμί: “There was a certain man from Jerusalem named . . .” (cf. Acts 9:10). Once the participant has been introduced, subsequent references will usually have reduced coding; that is, the participant will continue to be referred to not with a full noun phrase but with pronouns (he, she, it, they) or simply with the inflected verb ending (zero coding), when it is the subject. In other words, as long as a participant is active in the discourse, less coding is necessary to refer to that participant. However, if there is any potential for ambiguity (who is doing what to whom?), such as multiple participants, or if a participant has been inactive for some time and needs to be reactivated in the discourse or if there is any other possibility for confusion, the author might use a full reference again. A full reference is usually needed when there is a change in the subject of a sentence.31 Full reference can also indicate the beginning of a new unit or a change in scene.32 Use of a full noun phrase to identify a participant when a reduced form of reference (e.g., a pronoun or verb ending) is all that is needed can (1) highlight a contrast with another participant or (2) indicate prominence (in order to bring the participant back into the foreground).33
An analogy might be helpful. In a play, an actor must enter the stage for the first time and usually is the focus at that point: this is like full coding. As long as that actor is on the stage, there is no need to keep reintroducing him or her: this is like reduced coding. An actor who has left the stage for some time will need to be reactivated, brought back onstage (full coding again). Or if the stage is crowded with several people at the same time who need to be distinguished from each other, full coding is needed. Also, when the lights go off and the curtain comes down between acts, the actor will need to reenter the stage to begin a new act (full coding). When the actor is already onstage and enters into an important dialog with another character at a crucial point in the play, or when a spotlight is on the character center stage, the character is the focus of attention (full coding, perhaps with expansion).
13.25. Another important consideration is the grammatical role that participants play in clauses.
1. Are they the subjects of verbs or only their (direct or indirect) objects? That is, do they play a role in the discourse of doing and performing actions, or are they only acted upon?
2. Are they found in primary clauses or only secondary or embedded clauses? If they are primarily subjects of the main verbs in primary clauses, they generally play a more important role.
3. Are they “nested” within clauses?34 Does a participant only modify something else in the clause in the form of a genitive case or as the object of a preposition? Are they modifiers of modifiers? Are they only embedded in the speech of another character, so that they don’t actually advance the story or discourse themselves (they are only spoken about)?
4. If participants are the subjects of the main verbs, in what kind of verbal processes do they engage? Are they the subjects of verbs of action (e.g., run, fight, push, take, do, create, throw, eat, touch), verbs of perception (e.g., speak, see, believe, know), or verbs of being (εἰμί, γίνομαι)? Verbs that communicate an action tend to move the discourse forward. Verbal processes are important indicators of the status and role of participants in the discourse.
All of this requires that we analyze participants beyond the limited level of designating subjects or objects of verbs, as in traditional grammatical analysis. We must also observe them across larger stretches of discourse to determine the roles they play.
Matthew 2:1–12
13.26. Two main participants are referred to in this well-known story: the magi and King Herod. Both are subjects of the main verbs in the narrative (“all Jerusalem” has a brief role to play in v. 3; the “priests and scribes” also play only a brief role in vv. 5–6 to introduce an OT quotation; Jesus is the subject of a genitive absolute participle in v. 1, is spoken about in vv. 2, 4, 9, is in a secondary clause in v. 9, and is the object of a verb [εἶδον] in v. 11). The main participants, the magi and Herod, are referred to with a full reference the first time they are activated: μάγοι (v. 1), ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἡρῴδης (v. 3). Although Herod is mentioned in verse 1, he is given full reference in verse 3, since the subject shifts from the magi to him. After he is introduced in verse 3, and as long as he is the subject of each main clause, Herod receives zero coding, being referred to only with verb endings in verse 4. He receives another full reference (Ἡρῴδης) in verse 7, when the subject of the main verb switches back to him as he interacts again with the magi. He is referred to only in the verb endings in verse 8, since he remains the subject of the main verb in each clause. With another subject shift to the magi, full coding occurs with a participle phrase in verse 9 (οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαντες). Since they remain the subjects of the rest of the main verbs in verses 10–12, they receive zero coding, being referred to only with verb endings.
| Καὶ μετὰ τὸ παραδοθῆναι τὸν Ἰωάννην ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ (Mark 1:14) | And after John was handed over, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God. |
Jesus is introduced with a full reference (Ἰησοῦς) back in 1:9a but is referred to with pronouns or in verb endings throughout verses 9b–13. The full reference (ὁ Ἰησοῦς) in 1:14, then, introduces a new scene.
Revelation 12
13.27. The three main participants in this chapter are the woman, the child, and the dragon. Michael and his angels play very brief roles (v. 7), as do a couple of other minor participants (two wings, a battle, the earth). The woman is introduced in verses 1–2a with full reference (γυνή) and expansion in the form of participles and descriptive verbless clauses. Then she is referred to simply in the verb ending (κράζει) in the next main clause (v. 2b), since she is still the subject.
In verse 3, the dragon is also introduced with a full reference (δράκων), with an adjective, participles, and mention of significant features (heads, horns). The dragon receives a full reference again (ὁ δράκων) in verse 4, since he becomes the subject again after a reference to the tail at the beginning of the verse. The child is introduced in verse 4 (τέκνον) and receives heavy coding as he is referred to in the next clause in verse 5 as a son (υἱόν), which in turn is expanded with a noun in apposition (ἄρσεν) and a relative clause that identifies his function. Topic continuity is retained by the passive verb (ἡρπάσθη) in verse 5, so that the focus remains on the child as the subject. The next full reference to the child (τὸ τέκνον) is probably necessary to avoid confusion (the son, not the woman, is snatched up). Though prominent here, the son only plays the role of the recipient of the action—he is the direct object of verbs and the subject of a passive verb.
In verse 5 the woman is referred to with the verb ending of ἔτεκεν, since it is obvious who is giving birth. And because the subject switches back to her again in verse 6, the woman receives another full reference (ἡ γυνή). In verse 7 the dragon and his angels get full coding, probably to contrast them with Michael and his angels. The dragon and his angels receive full reference because they become the subject of the verb at the end of verse 7. The dragon, still the subject in verse 8, is then referred to in reduced form in the verb ending of ἴσχυσεν. The explicit subject of ἐβλήθη in verse 9 (ὁ δράκων) is made more prominent by its significant expansion in the form of appositional phrases. This overspecification of the subject (dragon) adds prominence and signals the dragon as a focal participant.
When the narrative resumes in verse 13 after an interruption, the dragon merits a new full reference followed by zero coding (ἐδίωξεν). The dragon (the serpent) is the subject again in verse 15, after a switch to “wings of an eagle” in verse 14, and thus is given a full reference (ὁ ὄφις). His final full reference comes in verse 17 (ὁ δράκων), where he is the subject of the verb (the earth was the subject in v. 16), after which verb endings (ἀπῆλθεν, ἐστάθη) in verses 17–18 suffice to identify him as still being the subject. In verses 13–17 the woman is the object or indirect object of verbs in the main clauses or the object of prepositions.
It is instructive to compare the grammatical roles of the participants. As we have already seen, the son, though important, is merely the recipient of activities. The woman is the subject of just three verbs in main clauses: κράζει, ἔτεκεν, ἔφυγεν. Otherwise, she is the complement of verbs (she is acted upon). By contrast, the dragon is the subject of thirteen verbs in main clauses. This indicates that the dragon is the focal point of the scene, driving the action, while the woman and son play more passive or secondary roles.
Conclusion
13.28. Among other things, discourse analysis is a way of analyzing texts in terms of how they are organized, how information is presented, what sections or elements stand out as more prominent, and what role the different participants play. According to Runge, an author needs to do several things in constructing a discourse:
One of the functions of grammar is to accomplish these tasks.
The discussion above has only briefly considered some of the ways grammar can be understood in light of discourse considerations. We hope that the student will be encouraged to move beyond analyzing grammar at the word level, and even the clause and sentence levels, to considering how grammar contributes to interpreting larger units of discourse.