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Greek Stem Slots | Greek Verb Slots | Greek Noun/Adjective Slots | Greek Phrase Slots | Greek Clause Slots | Greek Sentence Slots

Longacre's Hierarchy of Grammatical Levels

  1. Morpheme--smallest meaning part of language

  2. Stem--combination of morphemes (one of which is a root)

  3. Word--smallest independent utterance (root is head)

  4. Phrase--meaningful combination of words

  5. Clause--combination of subject and predicate (verb is head)

  6. Sentence--one or more related clauses that can stand alone (main clause is head)

  7. Paragraph--statement of idea; may be recursive (topic sentence is head)

  8. Discourse--independent statement of idea; is complete within itself

The above descriptions of the eight levels are not formal definitions.

Greek Stem Slots

stem = ± (morpheme)n + root morpheme
 

Greek Verb Slots

verb = ± reduplication ± preposition ± augment + root ± c-marker ± mood + ending

reduplication = consonant + e (marks perfect aspect)
preposition = optional
augment = e (marks past time; indicative mood only)
c-marker = s (aorist, future), k (perfect), [th]e (passive)
mood = o/e, a (aorist), long o/e, ei
ending = two classes: primary & secondary; shows number, person
 

Greek Noun/Adjective Slots

noun = + stem + ending

adjective = + stem + ending

ending = case, gender, number
          3 sets/declensions: o, a, consonant

The following rules are not fixed as to word order

Greek Phrase Slots

Noun Phrase [NP]
NP = ± poss.pronoun ± article ± (adjective)n ± noun ± (clause)n ± (PP)n

poss. pronoun (possessive pronoun) = my,our,your,yourpl,his,their
clause = relative clause, participial clause, infinitive clause
PP = prepositional phrase

the noun is usually the head, but an adjective or clause or even a prepositional phrase can serve as the head in Greek

Prepositional Phrase [PP]
PP = + preposition +NP

Verb Phrase [VP]
VP = ± auxillary verb + main verb ± (adverb)n ± (PP)n

periphastic phrases = finite copula + participle as main verb
 

Greek Clause Slots

clause = ± subject:NP + verb:VP ± i.o.:NP ± d.o.:NP ± o.c.:NP

or

clause = + subject:NP ± verb:copula + p.n.:NP,adjective

i.o. = indirect object (usually in dative case)
d.o. = direct object (most often in the accusative)
o.c. = object compliment (usually in the accusative)
p.n. = predicate nominative (in nominative case)

the subject is usually nominative, but accusative if the verb is an infinitive and genitive if the verb is a genitive participle

the copula (be,is,are,was,were,being) is optional in the present
 

Greek Sentence Slots

sentence = ± CC ± (preceeding dependent clause)n + main clause ± (following dependent clause)n

dependent clause = + subordinate conjunction [SC] + finite clause
or
dependent clause = participial clause

CC = coordinating conjunction (e.g., and, but, for)
SC = subordinating conjunction (e.g., while, when, since)
main clause = finite clause

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