Paul Danove, «The Licensing Properties of New Testament Verbs of Non-Spoken Communication» filologia-neotestamentaria, Vol. 24 (2011) 41-58 page 56

Paul Danove, «The Licensing Properties of New Testament Verbs of Non-Spoken Communication», Vol. 24 (2011) 41-58

This article resolves the semantic, syntactic, and lexical requirements for the grammatical use of the twenty-nine New Testament verbs that designate communication without a necessary reference to speaking. The discussion establishes criteria for distinguishing verbal usages, identifies four basic usages of non-spoken communication, and examines the conditions for the permissible omission of required complements. The presentation of the licensing properties of verbs with the four basic usages clarifies the similarities and dissimilarities in the realizations of complements for verbs of non-spoken and spoken communication and illustrates two further usages that are restricted to verbs of non-spoken communication. The concluding discussion considers patterns in the distribution of complements and usages among verbs of non-spoken communication.

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56 Paul Danove AEC Κορνήλιος… ἐχρηματίσθη ὑπὸ ἀγγέλου ἁγίου μεταπέμψασθαί σε (Acts 10,22) Cornelius…was directed / warned by a holy angel to send for you. ACE ἦν αὐτῷ κεχρηματισμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου μὴ ἰδεῖν θάνατον πρὶν ἢ ἂν ἴδῃ τὸν χριστὸν κυρίου (Luke 2,26) It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Christ. These examples of non-maximal infinitive Content complements (V- i2 for AEC and V-i3 for ACE) clarify that the verb designates different acts of communication with Usage AEC (direct, warn) and Usage ACE (reveal, make known). The change in usage with a change in meaning is not unprecedented; for ευαγγελίζομαι, which is a verb of spoken com- munication, presents a similar shift in meaning between Usage ACE (proclaim [as good news], cf. Luke 1,19; Eph 2,17) and Usage AEC (tell [as good news], cf. Acts 13,32; 14,15). 7.3. The Distribution of Realized Complements with the Four Basic Usages The four basic usages present a pattern in the distribution of real- ized required complements both within usages and across usages. This discussion uses the data of Tables 1 and 2 to clarify this pattern. First, within a given usage, verbs realize the second complement with the same or greater frequency than their third complement: (AC/E, 88.0%/42.4%; AT/E, 90.0%/75.0%; AE/C, 75.0%/75.0%; and AE/T, 85.7%/14.3%). Granting equal status to the four usages, the ratio of realized second complements / realized third complements is 3.5; and using total numbers of realized complements, the ratio is 2.1 (337/164). Using either method of comparison, the verbs reveal a marked tendency to realize the second complement more frequently than the third complement. The same pattern emerges across usages with the same required complements (ACE/AEC and ATE/AET). The ratio of realized Content complements with ACE/AEC is 1.2 (88.0%/75.0%); the ratio of realized Topic complements with usages ATE/AET is 6.3 (90%/14.3%); and the ratio of Experiencer complements with AEC/ACE is 1.8 (75.0%/42.4%) and with AET/ATE is 1.7 (85.7%/50.0%). These results indicate that the verbs place a relatively greater emphasis on their second required comple- ments than on their third required complements, which is reflected in the fact that the second complement typically functions as the subject when the verbs are passivized.