Tense-Switching in Classical Greek: A Cognitive Approach

Arjan Nijk's book explores the variation between the past and present tenses to refer to past events in Classical Greek and beyond, using a cognitive approach. It provides a complete overview of the phenomenon, offers new theoretical perspectives, and is important for classicists, narratologists, and linguists.

Format: Hardback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 17 February 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Tense, a fascinating linguistic phenomenon, reaches its most captivating state when it deviates from expected norms. In his book, Arjan Nijk delves into the intricate differences between the past and present tenses, exploring their usage in Classical Greek and beyond. Nijk adopts a cognitive perspective to address this topic, contending that the choice of the present for preterite events hinges on the activation of implicit conceptual scenarios that bridge the gap between the past and the present.

What sets this book apart from previous accounts is its meticulous precision in describing these conceptual scenarios. Nijk seamlessly combines linguistic theorizing with philological and statistical methods, utilizing a vast corpus of historical texts. Moreover, the book's cross-linguistic scope sets it apart, offering insights into tense switching across different language families.

This comprehensive work provides a thorough exploration of the phenomenon of tense switching in Classical Greek, presenting new theoretical perspectives on deixis and viewpoint. It is of immense value to classicists, narratologists, and linguists alike, offering a comprehensive overview of this linguistic domain. Additionally, the book is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core, ensuring widespread accessibility to scholars and researchers.

Weight: 622g
Dimension: 159 x 237 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781316517154