Pseudo-coordination and serial verbs in Hellenistic Greek?

Abstract

This paper deals with Biblical Greek multiverb constructions in which two verbs, inflected in the same mood, person and number, are either coordinated by καί or asyndetically juxtaposed and relate to a single event. The first verb is semantically constrained (verb of motion), and does not govern any complement. In typological studies, these constructions are known as pseudo-coordinated and serialised constructions, depending on the presence of the coordinator or not. We suggest here a unified view of the two patterns, called Pseudo-Coordinated Constructions (PCC s) lato sensu. Data for this research were collected from the Septuagint and the New Testament, which, despite the several differences concerning the times of composition and the type of text, are both characterised by a conspicuous number of PCC s. It was found that serialisation occurred exclusively with imperatives, which is in line with some serialised occurrences of motion verbs in previous stages of Greek, as well as with typological evidence. Conversely, pseudo-coordination occurred with both imperatives and other moods; in the latter case, and especially with past indicatives in narrative contexts, it is not easily distinguishable from plain coordination. Two results emerge from our analysis. First, the greater incidence of PCC s in the Septuagint than in the New Testament can be explained as a direct influence of Biblical Hebrew. Second, the data of the New Testament appear to be relevant for Greek diachrony since the verb ὑπάγω ‘go’, which behaves as the unmarked verb in the PCC s of the New Testament, developed into Modern Greek πηγαίνω ‘go’, which occurs in both serialised and pseudo-coordinated constructions.