Verbal Semantics in Ancient Greek Possessive Constructions with eînai

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-33
Author(s):  
Maria Carmela Benvenuto ◽  
Flavia Pompeo

The aim of this paper is to investigate ‘eînai (‘be’) plus dative’ and ‘eînai plus genitive’ possessive constructions, paying special attention to the semantic content of the verb eînai in order to identify the function and the distribution of the various combinatorial patterns of the constructions in question, and the precise role of the verbal items. In particular, the present analysis, carried out within the framework of Construction Grammar, will attempt to demonstrate that each possessive variant constitutes a semantically and pragmatically distinct pattern where the semantic content of the verb eînai is the result of form-meaning configurations over and above the morpheme and word level. From this perspective, the cluster of semantic, pragmatic and morpho-syntactic values attributed to participant slots constitutes an integral part of constructions.

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 190-208
Author(s):  
Cordell M. Waldron

Does the central role of the Iliad and the Odyssey in ancient Greek culture indicate that they functioned as scripture? Taking the role of the Tanakh in Jewish culture as the standard of comparison, this essay argues that, while the Tanakh and the epics functioned similarly as foundational texts in their respective cultures, the ways in which Homer was used in Hellenic culture differ markedly from the ways in which the Tanakh was used in ancient Jewish culture. The Homeric epics were primarily thought of as orally delivered or performed events throughout most of their history, only coming to be thought of as primarily written texts in the Hellenistic era and later, whereas almost from its origins the Tanakh commands and exemplifies a textcentered community in which that which is written is most important.


Cultural code ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
MARIYA PETROVNA LAPTEVA ◽  

The article continues the author's series of publications on the terminological apparatus of the historian. The problems of humanitarian science cannot have "final solutions". F.R.Ankersmith paid attention to the fact that the attitude to the role of metaphors knows not onli "ups" but also "downs". Exploring aspects of the conceptual arsenal associated with the explicit use of the metaphor. "Implicit use" refers to those semantic situations when a historian or another humanist enters into a kind of dialogue with other sciences, carrying out terminological borrowing. Since the semantic content of the term changes in this case, then, in essence, a metaphorical action takes place that does not require a special name. The article contains, the author's reflection on the circumstances and features of the use of metaphors. The author finds out how and why historiography becomes metaphorical. Referring to specialists who developed the cognitive basis of the theory of metaphor, the author analyzes different traditions of understanding what metaphor is. There is a search for a positive sense of metaphor usage with some ambiguity. Since the metaphor creates a new meaning of the word, its cognitive significance becomes unquestionable. By citing examples of various uses of metaphors in the texts of historians, the author shows how a metaphor helps clarify the uniqueness of historical situations.


Author(s):  
Michael N. Forster

Aesthetics, or the philosophy of literature and art, was one of Herder’s main focuses. By valorizing these areas of culture (in comparison with others such as science and religion) and in several other ways he prepared the ground for German Romanticism. He also established many principles of great intrinsic importance: rejecting apriorism and systematization in aesthetics in favor of an empirical, non-systematic approach; insisting that arts such as sculpture and painting express meanings and therefore require interpretation; recognizing the central role of genre not only in literature but also in such arts; perceiving the deep historical, cultural, and even individual variability of literature and art in respect of semantic content, genre, moral values, and aesthetic values, plus the major implications this variability has for both interpretation and evaluation; developing a set of radical views concerning beauty; and emphasizing the importance of literature and art as means of moral pedagogy.


Author(s):  
Marian H. Feldman

The “Orientalizing period” represents a scholarly designation used to describe the eighth and seventh centuries bce when regions in Greece, Italy, and farther west witnessed a flourishing of arts and cultures attributed to contact with cultural areas to the east—in particular that of the Phoenicians. This chapter surveys Orientalizing as an intellectual and historiographic concept and reconsiders the role of purportedly Phoenician arts within the existing scholarly narratives. The Orientalizing period should be understood as a construct of nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship that was structured around a false dichotomy between the Orient (the East) and the West. The designation “Phoenician” has a similarly complex historiographic past rooted in ancient Greek stereotyping that has profoundly shaped modern scholarly interpretations. This chapter argues that the luxury arts most often credited as agents of Orientalization—most prominent among them being carved ivories, decorated metal bowls, and engraved tridacna shells—cannot be exclusively associated with a Phoenician cultural origin, thus calling into question the primacy of the Phoenicians in Orientalizing processes. Each of these types of objects appears to have a much broader production sphere than is indicated by the attribute as Phoenician. In addition, the notion of unidirectional influences flowing from east to west is challenged, and instead concepts of connectivity and networking are proposed as more useful frameworks for approaching the problem of cultural relations during the early part of the first millennium bce.


Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Cristina Guardiano ◽  
Melita Stavrou

In this paper, we investigate patterns of persistence and change affecting the syntax of nominal structures in Italiot Greek in comparison to Modern (and Ancient) Greek, and we explore the role of Southern Italo-Romance as a potential source of interference. Our aim is to highlight the dynamics that favor syntactic contact in this domain: we provide an overview of the social context where these dynamics have taken place and of the linguistic structures involved.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 2258
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Bei Tan ◽  
Yi Wang ◽  
Zhong Chen

Epilepsy is a common brain disorder characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures with neuronal hyperexcitability. Apart from the classical imbalance between excitatory glutamatergic transmission and inhibitory γ-aminobutyric acidergic transmission, cumulative evidence suggest that cholinergic signaling is crucially involved in the modulation of neural excitability and epilepsy. In this review, we briefly describe the distribution of cholinergic neurons, muscarinic, and nicotinic receptors in the central nervous system and their relationship with neural excitability. Then, we summarize the findings from experimental and clinical research on the role of cholinergic signaling in epilepsy. Furthermore, we provide some perspectives on future investigation to reveal the precise role of the cholinergic system in epilepsy.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (23) ◽  
pp. 10315-10328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukinori Minoshima ◽  
Tetsuya Hori ◽  
Masahiro Okada ◽  
Hiroshi Kimura ◽  
Tokuko Haraguchi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We identified CENP-50 as a novel kinetochore component. We found that CENP-50 is a constitutive component of the centromere that colocalizes with CENP-A and CENP-H throughout the cell cycle in vertebrate cells. To determine the precise role of CENP-50, we examined its role in centromere function by generating a loss-of-function mutant in the chicken DT40 cell line. The CENP-50 knockout was not lethal; however, the growth rate of cells with this mutation was slower than that of wild-type cells. We observed that the time for CENP-50-deficient cells to complete mitosis was longer than that for wild-type cells. Centromeric localization of CENP-50 was abolished in both CENP-H- and CENP-I-deficient cells. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments revealed that CENP-50 interacted with the CENP-H/CENP-I complex in chicken DT40 cells. We also observed severe mitotic defects in CENP-50-deficient cells with apparent premature sister chromatid separation when the mitotic checkpoint was activated, indicating that CENP-50 is required for recovery from spindle damage.


2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. S414-S415
Author(s):  
Xin Xiao Zheng ◽  
Thomas A. Markees ◽  
Martina Weber ◽  
Xian Chang Li ◽  
Yongsheng Li ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Anton Batliner ◽  
Bernd Möbius

Automatic speech processing (ASP) is understood as covering word recognition, the processing of higher linguistic components (syntax, semantics, and pragmatics), and the processing of computational paralinguistics (CP), which deals with speaker states and traits. This chapter attempts to track the role of prosody in ASP from the word level up to CP. A short history of the field from 1980 to 2020 distinguishes the early years (until 2000)—when the prosodic contribution to the modelling of linguistic phenomena, such as accents, boundaries, syntax, semantics, and dialogue acts, was the focus—from the later years, when the focus shifted to paralinguistics; prosody ceased to be visible. Different types of predictor variables are addressed, among them high-performance power features as well as leverage features, which can also be employed in teaching and therapy.


2004 ◽  
Vol 167 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenton L. Scott ◽  
Jeffrey S. Van Komen ◽  
Hassan Irshad ◽  
Song Liu ◽  
Kirilee A. Wilson ◽  
...  

Sec1 proteins are critical players in membrane trafficking, yet their precise role remains unknown. We have examined the role of Sec1p in the regulation of post-Golgi secretion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Indirect immunofluorescence shows that endogenous Sec1p is found primarily at the bud neck in newly budded cells and in patches broadly distributed within the plasma membrane in unbudded cells. Recombinant Sec1p binds strongly to the t-SNARE complex (Sso1p/Sec9c) as well as to the fully assembled ternary SNARE complex (Sso1p/Sec9c;Snc2p), but also binds weakly to free Sso1p. We used recombinant Sec1p to test Sec1p function using a well-characterized SNARE-mediated membrane fusion assay. The addition of Sec1p to a traditional in vitro fusion assay moderately stimulates fusion; however, when Sec1p is allowed to bind to SNAREs before reconstitution, significantly more Sec1p binding is detected and fusion is stimulated in a concentration-dependent manner. These data strongly argue that Sec1p directly stimulates SNARE-mediated membrane fusion.


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