Sentence conjunctions in the Gospel of Matthew : kappaalphai, deltaepsilon, tauotauepsilon, gammaalpharho, oalphanu and asyndeton in narrative discourse

• Main Author: Black, Stephanie L.
• Published: University of Surrey 2000
• Subjects: 100; Philosophy
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.322462

Kalphai, deltaepsilon, Tote, gammaalphap, ouv and asyndeton constitute a system of sentence conjunctions in the narrative framework of Matthew's Gospel, forming networks with other linguistic systems such as constituent order, thematization, verbal tense-form, and lexical choice. Using a database of the Gospel of Matthew developed for this research, relative frequencies of sentence conjunctions are quantitatively described and frequencies of collocations with other syntactical and lexical features in narrative sentences are discussed. This study argues that sentence conjunctions convey procedural rather than conceptual meaning, providing processing instructions rather than prepositional content and guiding the audience to construct and modify mental representations in discourse processing. Kai signals unmarked continuity (the unmarked condition in narrative). Kai tends to collocate with verb-subject constituent order, especially with a verb in thematic (first) position in the sentence. deltaepsilon is a signal of low- to midlevel discontinuity, commonly paired with a change in participant or a temporal shift. deltaepsilon tends to collocate with subject-verb constituent order, especially with a thematic subject. Asyndeton is used both at points of tight continuity in Matthew's narrative framework, specifically in speech margins with thematic present-tense lambdaegammaw, and also at higher- level narrative breaks, with non-verbal themes and shifters such as 'in that day/hour/time'. While deltaepsilon generally signals discontinuity within the narrated events themselves, ouv and gammaalphap signal, respectively, movement to and from the narrative line, guiding pragmatic inferences the audience makes as they integrate additional material into a mental representation of the discourse. ∫alphap introduces 'off-line' material confirming a preceding proposition. Ouv directs the audience to continue processing narrative events with a mental representation modified by the inclusion of preceding 'off-line' material. The study concludes with commentary on Matthew 8-9 based on descriptive models developed in the research, addressing both sentence-level and discourse-level functions of Kalphai, deltaepsilon, Tote, gammaalphap, ouv and asyndeton.