Browsing by Author "Van Alten, H. H."

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    Die aoristos en imperfektum in die Handelinge van die Apostels
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2005-03) Van Alten, H. H.; Thom, J. C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old & New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Those who follow the research of the last century concerning verbal aspect, will realize the importance of this topic for the understanding of the input of the author / speaker in the written or spoken word, because verbal aspect gives the specific view of the author / speaker on an action. However, the input of the author is not unqualified, but takes place within certain grammatical and contextual parameters. Within these parameters the author has the freedom to give actions which occur within the written or spoken word, a specific colour. As a result of short definitions of the aspect of the different Greek tenses, I was able to identify six different aspectual uses for both the aorist and the imperfect which agreed with the chosen definitions. The Acts of the Apostles was used to test the tenability of the definitions and the aspectual uses. Only with extensive analysis can the theory be confirmed. Apart from the fact that Acts is an extensive book, it has the additional advantage that the writer regularly alternates between different genres (narrative and speech). In this way the analysis of the theory can be concentrated further by investigating whether aspectual changes occur between the different genres. Analysis of the proposed theory demonstrated firstly that the author does not use the Greek tenses haphazardly, but that he consciously makes use of the aorist and imperfect indicative. The aorist is used especially to represent events or acts in totality and as completed; the imperfect is used to represent events or acts in progress and as processes. The analysis also confirmed that the author applies the aorist and the imperfect in different ways. The identified aspectual uses of both these tenses could be recognized throughout the whole book. Although the author probably did not work with definitions and aspectual uses, he was clearly aware of verbal aspect and the different ways in which an action can be portrayed. The analysis finally demonstrated that a change in genre (from narrative to speech or the other way round) often also effects a change in verbal aspect. In this way the author portrays his specific view on actions within their context. The most frequent aspectual use of the aorist, is the aorist used to portray acts as completed actions in their totality (in both narratives and speeches) and the aorist to portray the key moments of the story (largely in narratives). The most frequent aspectual use of the imperfect, is the imperfect to show actions in progress (often in narratives) and the imperfect to sketch the background (largely in narratives). From the above we can draw the conclusion that the author of Acts uses the aorist and imperfect aspectually, while also considering the alternation between genres.