Retention and retreat : complementary participles and infinitives with verbs of perception and declaration in the Roman and Byzantine documentary papyri
This thesis documents and analyses the contribution of the Roman and Byzantine documentary papyri (c. 31 BCE to c. 735 CE) to our understanding of complementation in Koine Greek. It focuses on the use of participles and infinitives with verbs of perception and cognition and with verbs of declaration. It is based on an examination of approximately 9500 documents. The approach is sociolinguistic. Previous studies of the Koine have shown the increased use of finite clauses and the retreat, but not extinction, of the complementary participle and infinitive. The participle, infinitive, and finite clause were available as options. The choice between them is examined from three angles: the registers, the varieties, and text types in which they are found. The questions addressed may be summarised under two headings. First, at what levels and in what varieties of the language were the complementary participle and the infinitive retained? What limitations on their use can be identified? Second, was it the complementary participle or the infinitive that survived more strongly in those levels of the language in the Roman and early Byzantine periods? What caused the difference, if there was one? The thesis is divided into
James, Patrick
Retention and retreat : complementary participles and infinitives with verbs of perception and declaration in the Roman and Byzantine documentary papyri. This thesis documents and analyses the contribution of the Roman and Byzantine documentary papyri (c. 31 BCE to c. 735 CE) to our understanding of complementation in Koine Greek. It focuses on the use of participles and infinitives with verbs of perception and cognition and with verbs of declaration. It is based on an examination of approximately 9500 documents. The approach is sociolinguistic. Previous studies of the Koine have shown the increased use of finite clauses and the retreat, but not extinction, of the complementary participle and infinitive. The participle, infinitive, and finite clause were available as options. The choice between them is examined from three angles: the registers, the varieties, and text types in which they are found. The questions addressed may be summarised under two headings. First, at what levels and in what varieties of the language were the complementary participle and the infinitive retained? What limitations on their use can be identified? Second, was it the complementary participle or the infinitive that survived more strongly in those levels of the language in the Roman and early Byzantine periods? What caused the difference, if there was one? The thesis is divided into
retention retreat complementary infinitive verbs perception declaration roman_byzantine documentary papyrus document analyse roman_byzantine documentary papyrus bce complementation greek focus use infinitive verbs perception cognition verbs declaration base_examination approximately document sociolinguistic previous_study show_increase use finite_clause retreat extinction complementary infinitive infinitive finite_clause available option choice examine angle register variety text_type find question_address may summarise heading first level variety language complementary infinitive retain limitation use_identify second complementary infinitive survive strongly level language roman_early byzantine_period cause difference divide