Sentence Conjunctions in the Gospel of Matthew: καί, δέ, τότε, γάρ, σὖν and Asyndeton in Narrative Discourse
Overview
Black applies current linguistic research on discourse markers to the sentence conjunctions found in Matthew's Gospel. This treatment combines linguistic insights with a detailed examination of Matthew’s use of conjunctions in narrative passages. She breaks new ground in linguistic theory by modeling the interplay between features such as sentence conjunction, word order, and verb tense in the portrayal of continuity and discontinuity in Greek narrative. Her book will be of interest to New Testament scholars, classicists, discourse analysts and linguists alike.
Top Highlights
“of paratactic intersentence conjunctions such as καί, δέ, οὖν, γάρ” (Page 16)
“ δέ functions as a signal of low-to mid-level discontinuity” (Page 333)
“To restate Blakemore’s theory in more general terms, conjunctions and similar connective words are supplied by a speaker to help keep an audience from wandering too far from the speaker’s intended meaning (limiting or ‘constraining’ what possibilities the audience will consider in searching for a context that makes sense of the speaker’s message), while at the same time making it easier, simply by their presence, for the audience to recognize how the speaker intends for one statement to relate to a previous one (reducing ‘processing effort’).” (Pages 56–57)
“Matthew uses καί to signal that what follows is continuous with the audience’s ongoing mental representations of the narrative, while δέ informs the audience that a low-to mid-level discontinuity occurs at that point in the discourse.” (Page 64)
“By this they mean that since there is a cost (in terms of time and effort) in processing information, hearers pay attention to and process the information which appears to be the most relevant to them at the least cost.” (Page 55)
- Title: Sentence Conjunctions in the Gospel of Matthew: Narrative Discourse
- Author: Stephanie Black
- Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
- Publication Date: 2002
- Pages: 412