3 CONJUNCTIONS, CLINES AND LEVELS OF DISCOURSE STANLEY E. PORTER AND MATTHEW BROOK O’DONNELL Conjunctions have proved to be a recurring problem for Greek analysis. They are usually treated on the same level of analysis, as if they presented a single set of discrete choices. However, the use of conjunctions in Greek pro- vides two horizontal clines of conjunctive meaning–continuity-discontinuity and logical-semantic significance–and are selected according to a vertical cline of discourse. This paper explores a basic framework for analysis of conjunctions in the light of these axes. 1. Introduction Conjunctions are notoriously difficult in many languages, and Greek perhaps more so than many, because it is a language that has been blessed–or cursed, depending on one’s perspective–with a vast repertoire of conjunctive words. The standard treatment of conjunctions in Greek treats them in an undifferentiated way, as if theay functioned on the same level. For example, in Porter’s Idioms of the Greek New Testament, he defines conjunctions as: “a sub-class of particles used to join various grammatical units, such as phrases, clauses, and so on”1. He then goes on to provide a continuous list of (particles and) conjunctions, thirty seven in all. It is noteworthy that Porter indicates that conjunctions join various grammatical units. Another grammar, using a similar definition, treats conjunctions as “linking words”. Although this grammarian indi- cates that conjunctions can be differentiated semantically, structurally, and lexically, he emphasizes their role in sentences by emphasizing their coordinating and subordinating functions2. Even a more linguistically nu- anced treatment fails to go much further than acknowledging a hierarchy to intersentential conjunctions. This analysis differentiates their function in terms of a cline or continuum of emphatic–de-emphatic, within which S.E. Porter, Idioms of the Greek New Testament (Biblical Languages: Greek, 2; Shef- 1 field 21994) 204. D.B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New 2 Testament (Grand Rapids 1996) 667 (definition: “word that connects words, clauses, sen- tences, or paragraphs, and as a result links the component parts and/or the thought-units of a language together”), 669. Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XX - 2007, pp. 3-14 Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)