Editors:
Matthew Brook O'Donnell
Stanley E. Porter
Jeffrey T. Reed
1. Introduction
2. Definitions
3. Features analyzed at the clause level
3.1. Clause components, aspect, causality and presupposition (Field)
3.2. Attitude and participation (Tenor)
3.3. Clause boundaries, prime and subsequent, and conjunctions (Mode)
a. The extent and nature of the 'clause' is an unclear and somewhat contentious issue in traditional grammar. Many linguistic models treat the sentence as the basic unit of analysis, which sometimes consists of just one clause while on other occasions includes a complex of clauses. The OpenText.org discourse model does not include the sentence as a level of analysis. The clause-complex or an 'independent' clause and its attached 'dependent' clauses are not given special treatment. Instead, each clause-whether it would traditionally be classified as 'independent' or 'dependent'-is marked on the same level. The clause components of subject, predicate, complement and adjunct are marked within each clause as they occur.
b. The notions of clause independence and dependence in Greek have been overly influenced by working in translation and a reliance upon logical analysis. A dependent clause is often defined as a clause that 'cannot stand on its own'. For instance, a clause introduced with i{na is usually classified as dependent because the translation 'in order that X' seems to depend on a previous clause. However, the same argument could be used to classify clauses beginning with gavr or ou\n as dependent.
c. The discussion of the relationships between clauses (their connection and 'dependency') and the level at which they are functioning cannot be treated at the clause level. This takes place at the pericope or paragraph level (see Paragraph Level Annotation).
a. Though not formally recognized in the current elements and attributes, it is helpful to divide the features analyzed at the clause level according to whether they belong to the field, tenor or mode of discourse.
a. A clause usually has a number of different components, differentiated in functional terms. There are four components, subject, predicate, complement and adjunct. A clause can usually have only one subject and predicate, but any number of complements and adjuncts.
b. The predicate is made up of the word group containing the verbal element of the clause. Each predicate is marked with a number of semantic features based upon the formal morphological features of the verbal element marked at the word group level (see Word Group Annotation 3.3). The features marked on the predicate are: aspect (tense-forms except for future), causality (disambiguated voice forms), attitude (mood for finite forms), participation (person for finite forms), collection (number for finite and participle forms) and presupposition (for participle and infinitive forms).
c. The subject is made up of one or more word groups, with the head term(s) usually in the nominative case (and in concord with the finite verbal form if it is present). Cases where a number of word groups are joined by conjunctions, e.g. Pau'lo" kai; Timovqeo" kai; Pevtro", are marked as a single subject component. Subject components are marked with a role, which will usually be that of actor.
d. A complement is made up of one or more connected word groups that can be said to complete the action of the predicate. In traditional grammatical terms complements include direct and indirect objects. A number of related word groups, connected by conjunctions are marked as single complement, e.g. to;n Pevtron kai; to;n ?Iavkwbon kai; to;n ?Iwavnnhn. In other cases, however, a number of word groups may constitute individual complements, e.g. [cara;n pollh;n]C [e[scon]P kai; [paravklhsin]C. Complement components are with a role, which will frequently be that of patient.
e. An adjunct consists of one of more connected word groups functioning in an adverbial manner. Common adjuncts are prepositional phrases and adverb word groups. In clauses with a series of adverbial word groups joined by conjunctions, e.g. ejn uJmi'n kai; ejn hJmi'n kai; eij" Cristou', each word group is marked as an adjunct. Adjunct components marked with a circumstance with the values where, when, how and what.
f. Frequently a clause component will consist of an entire clause filling the slot of subject, complement or adjunct. Consider the clause, oJ pisteuvwn ejn qew'/ lalei' tw'/ law'/. This should first be analyzed as follows: {[oJ pisteuvwn ejn qew'/]S [lalei']P [tw'/ law'/]C}. However, the subject component of the clause is itself a clause, analyzed as: {[oJ pisteuvwn]P [ejn qew'/]A}.
g. Other examples of clauses nested within clause components are adverbial participle clauses functioning as clause adjuncts and infinitive phrases filling the subject or complement slot.
h. A clause will usually have a single finite verbal element as its predicate. It may have other non-finite verbal forms in other component slots (e.g. a participle phrase as an adjunct). These additional verbal elements are given their own clausal analysis as discussed above. There are occasions where a clause may appear to have a predicate component containing two finite verbs (connected by a conjunctive particle) that share the other clause components (subject, complements and/or adjuncts) e.g. Rom. 1.21 [ [diovti]conj [gnovnte" to;n qeo;n]A [oujc]A [wJ" qeo;n]A [ejdovxasan h] hujcarivsthsan]P ]. An alternative analysis of this clause would be two see it as a clause with two predicates, e.g. [ejdovxasan]P [h]]conj hujcarivsthsan]P. However, the general criterion for determining the boundaries of a clause is one finite predicate per clause. This specification suggests that this be followed if possible, so that the example from Rom. 1.21 would be analyzed as two clauses, e.g. [ [diovti]conj [gnovnte" to;n qeo;n]A [oujc]A [wJ" qeo;n]A [ejdovxasan]CLAUSE1 [ [h]]conj hujcarivsthsan]P ]CLAUSE2.
i. Periphrastic constructions pose a challenge for annotation at the clause level. 'Periphrastic verbal constructions are formed by the grammatically appropriate combination of a form of the auxiliary verb eijmiv and a participle' (Porter 1994: 45). These two verbal elements, the auxiliary and the participle form, function as a single semantic unit and are thus annotated as a single group. This allows for all the semantic features annotated as attributes on the predicate component, such as aspect, causality and attitude to be included. The auxilary provides the semantics of attitude (eijmiv is vague with regard to aspect and causality [realized by tense-form and voice respectively]) and the participle form provides aspect and causality. As a guide in identifying paraphrastic constructions it should be noted that other elements such as subject or adjunct components related to the auxilary do not usually intervene between the auxilary and the participle (see examples in Porter 1994: 45-46).
a. Predicate clause components containing a finite verb form are marked with an indication of attitude (mood forms). Possible values for attitude are: assert (indicative forms), direct (imperative), project (subjunctive) and contingent (optative).
b.
The <part>
element
a. The boundaries of each clause are ascertained on the basis of the criteria outlined in the definition of a clause (see Definitions). A clause will have at most one verbal element, though it need not have one.
b. As discussed in section 3.1, an entire clause may be nested within a component element of another clause, e.g. C1[ C2[oJ pisteuvwn ejn qew'/] lalei' tw'/ law'/] and C1[ei[ pw" h[dh pote eujodwqhvsomai ejn tw'/ qelvmati tou' qeou' C2[ejlqei'n pro;" uJma'"] ].
c. Each clause is marked with a unique identifier allowing reference from other elements and documents.
d. The first word group within a clause is marked as the prime of the clause and the remainder of the clause as the subsequent (other models use the terms theme and rheme for similar categories). At the clause level the prime is usually thematized material or the 'topic' of the clause, while the subsequent provides additional material expanding the prime.
e. Conjunctions marked at the clause level of discourse are those that join two elements (usually word groups) within the clause. For example, the kaiv in the clause cara;n ga;r pollh;n e[scon kai; paravklhsin ejpi; th'/ ajgavph/ sou, joins the word groups cara;n pollh;n and paravklhsin. This conjunction is marked as a clause level conjunction. In contrast, the gavr in the same clause functions to join the clause to a previous clause, it is, therefore, marked as a conjunction at the paragraph level (see Paragraph Level Annotation).