Contrastive Substitution and the Greek Verb

Abstract

AbstractOne of the most compelling proofs Porter offers to substantiate his claim that Koiné Greek does not encode temporal reference in the verb is the test of contrastive substitution. The reasoning goes that if the different tense-forms can be used in the same temporal context, then these forms must convey something other than time, i.e., Greek lacks tense. Porter’s primary literature makes clear that his claim is invalid, yet neither he or nor subsequent researchers engage or acknowledge these counterarguments. This raises troubling questions about the adequacy of interdisciplinary peer-review in nt linguistic studies.