Discourse Analysis Flashcards
Independent and Dependent clauses
Independent can stand on its own. Dependent clauses require other clauses to complete their meaning. Dependent clauses can appear either in subordinate relationships to independent clauses or as substantival relationships.
Compound sentence
two or more clauses are connected in a coordinate relation, also called paratactic structure.
Complex sentence
A complex sentence is one in which one or more clauses are subordinate to another clause, also called hypotactic structure.
Infinitival clause
Substantival, adjectival, or adverbial.
Substantival = subject, predicate nominative, or direct object
Adjectival = epexegetical infinitive to another substantive.
Adverbial = connects with prepositions like εἰς τό to create an adverbial effect.
Participial Clause
Participial clauses can be substantival, adjectival, or adverbial
substantival = a participle can function substantivally as the subject, predicate nominative, or direct object of the clause.
Adjectival = as an attributive adjectival participle, when it describes, explains, or restricts a noun, pronoun, or other substantive.
Adverbial = temporal, grounds/cause, conditional, means/manner, etc.
Conjunctive clause
Conjunctive clauses can be substantival, adjectival, or adverbial.
substantival = For instance,ὅτι + indicative and ἵνα + subjunctive can function substantivally as the subject, predicate nominative, direct object of the clause, as introducing indirect discourse, and appositionally.
adjectival = ὅτι + indicative and ἵνα + subjunctive can function adjectivally when it describes, explains, or restricts a noun, pronoun, or other substantive.
Adverbial = ὅτι + indicative can function adverbially, communicating nuance of grounds/cause, whereas ἵνα + subjunctive can communicate the adverbial nuances of complementary, purpose, or result.
Relative Clause
Relative clauses can be substantival, adjectival, or adverbial.
substantival = subject, direct object
adjectival = describes, explains, restricts a noun, pronoun or other substantive
adverbial = nuances of grounds/cause, comparison, concession/adversative, condition, locative, manner/means, purpose, result, and temporal.
Conjunctions
Conjunctions unite words, phrases, clauses, or paragraphs, but they do so either as coordinating or subordinating conjunctions.
and = connects two clauses of equal weight (makes a series)
But/or = connects two clauses as an alternative.
Most Common Greek Conjunctions
καί, δέ, γάρ, ἀλλά, οὖν, ἤ, τε, οὐδέ, οὔτε, εἴτε
Greek Coordinating Conjunction και
και expresses continuity and frequently connects actions or events into a series. Can express correlation or alternative or development.
Greek Coordinating Conjunction δε
expresses development and also frequently connects actions, events, or ideas into a series. Can express correlation or alternative or development.
Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions specifically unite independent and dependent clauses.
Common Greek Subordinating Conjunctions Indicative
ὅτι, εἰ, καθώς, ὡς, γάρ, ὅτε
Common Greek Subordinating Conjunctions Subjunctive
ἵνα, ὅταν, ἐάν, ὅπως, ἕως, μή, μήποτε
Dependent Clause Forms
- Infinitival Clause
- Participial Clause
- Relative Clause
- Conjunctive Clause
Conjunctive Clause
the subordinating conjunction connects the dependent clause with an independent clause. These create different logical relationships. Types:
Result/Goal
Grounds/Basis/Support
Temporal
Condition
Comparison
Inference
List of logical relationships in Greek
Series (S)
Progression (P)
Alternative (Alt)
Adversative (Adv)
Negative/Positive (+/-)
Way-End (W-Ed)
Means-End (M-Ed)
Comparison (//)
General-Specific (Gn-Sp)
Fact-Interpretation (Ft-In)
Grounds (G)
Inference (:.)
Cause-Effect (C-E)
Temporal (T)
Locative (L)
Question-Answer (Q-A)
Situation-Response (S-R)
Condition (C?-E)
Alternative (Alt)
Conjunction or. Two clauses of equal status. εἴτε pairs. Coordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: or, but, while, on the one hand/on the other, whether/or
ἀλλά, δέ, μέν…δέ, εἴτε…εἴτε
Series (S)
Equal status, contributing to a logical point, but not as options. Coordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: and, moreover, furthermore, likewise, neither…nor
καί, δέ, τέ, οὔτε, οὐδέ, μήτε, μηδέ
Progression (P)
The clauses are not of equal status, but builds to a goal or climax. Coordinate and Subordinate.
The primary key words for this logical relationship: then, and, moreover, furthermore, neither…nor
καί, δέ, τέ, οὔτε, οὐδέ, μήτε, μηδέ
Inference (:.)
A statement is made with a conclusion drawn from it. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: therefore, wherefore, consequently, accordingly
οὖν, διό, ὥστε
Grounds (G)
Conclusion is stated first and the logic it is derived from comes second. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: for, since, because
γάρ, ὅτι, διότι, ἐπεί, έπειδή
Cause-Effect (C-E)
Can also be thought of as Action-Result. Unlike Inference and Grounds, the result of an action is in view rather than the reason. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: that, so that, with the result that
ὥστε, διοτί, ἄρα, διό
Means- End (M-Ed)
Or can be thought of as Action-Purpose. This describes an agent with an action to bring about a goal. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: in order that, that, lest, to the end that, with a view to
ἵνα, ὅπως, ἵνα…μή
Condition (C?-E)
Conditional sentence, something might happen followed by possibly result. Protasis is the term for the condition, apodosis is the term for the result. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: if…then, if, except, provided that
εἰ, ἐάν
Locative (L)
Clauses describing location, orientation, or direction (in the sense of against). Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: where, wherever, in
ὅπου, οὗ, ἐν
Temporal (T)
These are clauses that describe timing for the main statement. Subordinate.
The primary key words for this logical relationship: when, after, before whenever
ὅτε, ὅταν
Comparison (//)
The subordinate statement can express equivalence or close comparison to the main statement. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: even as, like, just as, as…so
ὡς, καθώς, οὕτως, ὥσπερ
Negative/Positive (+/-)
Negative statement supporting an affirmed positive statement. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: not…but
οὐ, μή, ἀλλά, δέ
General-Specific (Gn-Sp)
Statement with a broad category followed by a statement regarding a more specific subset of that category. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: that is, for, who/that/which, “as it is written”
τοῡτ’-ἔστιν, γάρ
Fact-Interpretation (Ft-In)
Moves from general to specific as well, but the specific part provides an interpretation of the general. Subordinate
The primary key words for this logical relationship: that is, for
τοῡτ’-ἔστιν, γάρ
Way-End (W-Ed)
That is, action-manner (Ed-W). Main statement describes action, subordinate statement provides the manner of the action.
“Manner” is a category describing the way an action was taken, while “Means describes an action with an intended end goal.
The primary key words for this logical relationship: in that, by, according to, in this manner
οὕτως, διά, ἐν, κατά, μετά, σύν
Means-End (M-Ed)
Means-end focuses on the intentionality of the agent to accomplish a certain action. Subordinate
Adversative (adv)
Subordinate-contrary. A concession setting up the main statement.
The primary key words for this logical relationship: although, yet, but nevertheless
καίπερ, εἰ, καί, ἐάν-καί
Question-Answer (Q-A)
This is when a question is introduced and the answered.
The key marks for this logical relationship are: rhetorical questions and question marks.
Situation-Response (S-R)
This logical relationship is most common in narrative and dialogue with multiple agents, where responses and plot features are not strictly caused by the situation.
The key marks for this logical relationship are: narrative events.
Proposition
A complete statement or assertion that is either explicit or implicit.
Explicit: a verbal clause that makes a single or complete statement or assertion.
Implicit: an implicit proposition is a non-verbal phrase, which can be understood conceptually as making a statement or assertion. Implicit propositions will have an implies verbal idea and will always be subordinate to the main or head proposition.
Prominence
Written discourses have words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, books etc. We are look at the sentence and paragraph level.
Series and Alternative do not have prominence, because they have equal prominence at the propositional level.
All other relationships do not work this way. The star goes on the most prominent proposition.
Questions
Asking who, what, where, when, and why of a text.
Meaning
Meaning concerns what the human author and divine Author intend to communicate through the text - the information of a text.
Significance
Significance concerns how the meaning relates to the lives of God’s people today - the application of a text.
Questions concerning Significance
- Questions should stem from troubled-ness.
- Questions should not be easily answered by reading the next verse or verses.
- Avoid vague, strange, abstract language in posing your question. Be precise.
- Make sure that the problem leading to a question steams from the text rather than you own theological convictions or experience.
- Avoid asking questions that focus on something peripheral in the text.
Observation
An observation is something that can be seen in the text. It is something you can say about a verse, and what you say about it is definitely true to that verse.
Interpretation
An interpretation is something that can be seen in a verse, but not everyone will agree that it’s true to that verse.
Four Common Failures
- Failure to observe details
- Observing things incorrectly
- Focusing on portions of the text that are not as significant as others
- Observing things that are not really there.
Four Categories of Observation
- Lexical
- Grammatical/Syntactical
- Semantic
- Theological
Lexical Observations
Observations about key words in the text.
Two ways:
1. Observe a word repeated again and again in the text. (for emphasis)
2. See a word that is significant either because it would change the meaning of the entire text or because it is puzzling and therefore merits further study.
Grammatical/Syntactical Observations
- Start by flowing the text (sentence flow it for a more precise understanding of the grammar) (Max and Mary book)
- Identify the tense of verbs (including the aktionsart)
- Pay close attention to the conjunctions and connectives
- Focus on adverbial participles and genitives
- Ask if the adverbial participle can have another nuance.
- Read and re-read the context with the nuance to see if it makes sense of the text
- See if the author employs a similar construction elsewhere, especially where the same topic is being discussed - Check your observations by referencing Greek grammars, handbooks, and exegetical commentaries
Semantic Observations
When DA-ing a passage, these observations will principally concern logical relationships between each proposition in the text.
Theological Observations
Observations about what the text teaches about God. (Not stated explicitly.)
