TIP OF THE DAY 6: Name.identify > Syntactic force

MJ. Smith
MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,108
edited November 20 in English Forum

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QUESTION: Can I make a visual filter for personal names using semantic domains?

SOFTWARE: The simplest way to remember what you can do with a visual filter is to think of a visual filter as a “permanent” copy of your results from a Bible, book, or morphology search. To build one:

  1. Open the Documents menu from the tool bar.
  2. Select the blue New menu on the upper right.
  3. Select Visual filter from the dropdown selection menu.
  4. For this example, I will be using the Louw-Nida search for louwNida:93.1-93.388. Therefore, at the top I will select a Bible search.
  5. I will set the title to “TIP Louw-Nida personal name filte.” You should use a name of your choice that you will remember the meaning of. Filters you don’t know what they do don’t get much use.
  6. I will set the text, range and scope to their defaults so it reads “Search All Bible Text in All Passages in Your Bibles for”. Note that for performance reasons, I usually save a filter when I am done using it to a short book (often Jonah) in a single Bible (usually NRSV).
  7. I copy and paste the search argument louwNida:93.1-93.388 from my search panel into the first available search box.
  8. I click on the formatting box to see a list of the available highlights.
  9. I open a Bible to the New Testament to verify that the visual filter is working.
  10. Close the new filter.

 

QUESTION: How do I turn my new visual filter off?

SOFTWARE: When you create a new filter, it is automatically turned on.  Thereafter, it will be one or off depending upon how you last left it for that book (resource).

  1. In the dynamic tool bar, select the Formatting tab.
  2. In the toolbar line below, select Show Visual Filters, the last icon on the right before the next/prior navigation carets.
  3. Note that the top line of the menu has a toggle switch to turn all the visual filters on or off in this book. This is followed by a Find box which allows you to search for a filter name rather than simply scrolling until you notice it.
  4. The Visual filters are listed in alphabetical order. Only Visual filters that are applicable will be shown. Hover over the Visual filter you wish to turn off.
  5. While you are hovering you will see a three vertical dot menu icon on the right. Click on it.
  6. You are presented with 4 options, the bottom 2 apply to the Visual filter you selected. You may either turn it on by selecting “Show in all appropriate books” or turn it off by selecting “Do not show in any books.” Immediately after you have created a filter, you most likely wish to use these global actions.
  7. If you wish to change whether the filter does or does not show in this book (resource) only, the check box in front of the Visual filter name, serves as a toggle switch.
  8. Note that the bottom of this Visual filter menu offers another way to start with a blank visual filter document.

 

QUESTION: What is syntactic force?

SOFTWARE: Despite not being a broadly recognized linguistic term and despite being integrated into the Word-by-Word section of the Exegetical Guide and into the Context menu of many Bibles, I can find no Logos/Verbum definition for the term “syntactic force”. Therefore, I turned to Perplexity for a definition and a brief discussion of the debate over the concepts usefulness.

Syntactic force refers to the translation value or interpretive meaning of a grammatical form when contextual factors are taken into account. It goes beyond just the inherent morphological or syntactic properties of a form to describe how it functions semantically or pragmatically in a specific context.The debate over the usefulness of syntactic force centers on the following key points:

  1. Proponents argue that syntactic force provides a useful way to describe the specific contextual meaning of grammatical forms for exegetical and translation purposes. It gives scholars a way to map the "in context" sense of a form to an English equivalent without having to fully translate it.
  2. Critics contend that the notion of syntactic force is problematic because:
  • It attempts to capture contextual and semantic factors within syntactic description, blurring important distinctions.
  • It can lead to an unnecessary multiplication of syntactic categories and subcategories.
  • It may imply that structures themselves have inherent meanings beyond their basic grammatical functions.
  1. Some linguists, like Carl Conrad, prefer to distinguish between "semantic meaning" and "pragmatic effect" rather than using the composite idea of syntactic force.
  2. There are concerns that focusing on pinpointing a precise syntactic force for forms in specific contexts is perilous and can lead to overinterpretation.
  3. The debate reflects broader tensions between formal syntactic approaches and more semantically/pragmatically oriented ones in linguistic theory.

In essence, the usefulness of syntactic force as a concept is debated because it attempts to bridge syntax and semantics/pragmatics in ways that some linguists find problematic, while others see it as a helpful descriptive tool. The debate highlights differing views on how to properly characterize the relationship between grammatical form and contextual meaning.

The primary books based on the Lexham syntactic Greek analysis are:

Note that the definition of terms in The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament Glossary includes links to standard grammars. Example proper name:

proper name: A form, often indeclinable, which expresses the formal name of a substantival element. (References: BDF §53-57, 259-262, 268; Wallace n/a; Smyth §1136-1142, 1160, 1207.)[1]

 I don’t find a bibliography of the indexed grammars but at the very least it includes:

In addition, while remembering that proper name is broader than personal name, the expansions and annotations contain many entries for syntactic force in the form of:

  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Accusative.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Adverb of manner.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Appositive or appositonal (i.e., epexegetical).
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Attributive adjective.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Comparative genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative object within the relative clause.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative object.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative of accompaniment.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative of advantage.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative of agency.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative of locative.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative of recipient.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Dative of reference.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Direct object.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Double accusative.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Accusative of reference or Adverbial accusative or Accusative of appelation.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Attributive genitive or Qualitative genitive or Genitive of association.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Attributive genitive or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Dative of association or Dative of accompaniment.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Descriptive genitive or Genitive of association.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Descriptive genitive or Subjective genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of association or Attributive genitive or Qualitative genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of association or Partitive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of content or Objective genitive or Subjective genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of content or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of content or Qualitative genitive or Attributive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of reference or Qualitative genitive or Attributive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of relation or Genitive of association.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of relation or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of source or Subjective genitive or Possessive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of source or Qualitative genitive or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of source or Subjective genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of source or Genitive of association.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Genitive of source or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Indirect object or Dative of accompaniment.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Indirect object or Dative of advantage.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Partitive genitive or Genitive of source.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Partitive genitive or Genitive of association.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Partitive genitive or Genitive of content.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Possessive genitive or Qualitative genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Possessive genitive or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Preposition of position or Preposition of location.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Qualitative genitive or Genitive of source.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Subject or Appositive or appositonal (i.e., epexegetical).
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Subjective genitive or Descriptive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Subjective genitive or Possessive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Subjective genitive or Genitive of source.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Genitive object.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Genitive of association.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Genitive of reference.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Genitive of relation.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Genitive of source.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Indirect object.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Nominative absolute.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Nominative of an epistolary sender. Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as either Appositive or appositonal (i.e., epexegetical) or Genitive of content.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Objective genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Partitive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Possessive genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Predicate adjective.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Predicate nominative of the dependent clause.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Predicate nominative.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Predicatory accusative.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Preposition of source.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Prepositional object.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Subject.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Subjective genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Temporal genitive.
  • Syntactic Force: Proper name functioning as Vocative.

 

QUESTION: How do I use syntactic force to identify personal names?

SOFTWARE: Remember that this is strictly a New Testament feature.

  1. Open your preferred Bible from the toolbar.
  2. Use the Reference box to navigate to Matthew 1.
  3. Select any personal name.
  4. Right click to open the Context menu.
  5. On the tab side (left line) look for a dark diamond with an element of proper name and a data source of Lexham SGNT Syntactic Force. It will probably need to be expanded into two elements before you can select it.
  6. On the action side (right side) select the Bible under the Search option.
  7. This will open a Search panel with the search argument of SGNTSyntacticForce:"proper name" and will execute the search.

BDF BDF: Blass, F., A. Debrunner and R. Funk. A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature: A Translation and Revision of the ninth-tenth German edition incorporating supplementary notes of A. Debrunner, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961.

Wallace Wallace: Wallace, Daniel B. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997.

n/a No direct reference for this feature was located in the table of contents or index of the named grammar.

Smyth Smyth: Smyth, Herbert Weir. A Greek Grammar for Colleges. New York: American Book Company, 1920.

[1] Albert L. Lukaszewski, The Lexham Syntactic Greek New Testament Glossary (Lexham Press, 2007).

Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

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