Current Studies

Presently, I’m working on a number of projects.

  • I’m taking my thoughts from my series on verbal aspect & Stanley Porter and combining them into a single document which I’ll post as a pdf here on my blog.
  • I’m also studying discontinuous phrases, such as 2 Peter 3.1: “δευτέραν ὑμῖν γράφω ἐπιστολήν” (I write a second letter to you) where the verb and indirect object divide a noun phrase. Is there a structural way to explain this kind of separation of the adjective  (δευτέραν “second”) from the noun it modifies (ἐπιστολήν “letter”)? I think there is and it can be described following work already done in Classical Greek (Devine & Stephen’s Discontinuous Syntax: Hyperbaton in Greek – its a highly technical book and not an easy read, but very interesting). The main question is how much do the classical semantic and pragmatic patterns hold in the Koine period. And that’s the question I’m seeking to answer.
  • Finally, I’m building/developing a morphological parser for Koine Greek that will hopefully be able to parse most Greek texts. Right now, I’m simply working on paradigms and rules. My test case for it will be Ephesians.