Information source and complementation in Classical Greek. The case of verbs of seeing and knowledge acquisition
Abstract
Verbs of visual perception and knowledge display a similar pattern of complementation in Classical Greek. Constructions governed by verbs of seeing may involve participial complements (usually AccPtcp), which prototypically refer to directly perceived states of affairs, and finite complements introduced by hóti 'that' or ho:s 'that', which express knowledge acquisition. This pattern is mirrored by knowledge verbs, which allow AccPtcp as a minor complementation strategy alongside subordinate clauses with hóti or ho:s. As a result, all three complement types may occur with predicates of knowledge, though the exact principles that govern their distribution are far from clear.
This paper aims to elucidate the synchronic functional differences between AccPtcp, hóti and ho:s with verbs of seeing and knowing in classical Attic prose (the late 5th and 4th cent. BCE) by applying the notion of information source. It will be argued that AccPtcp with predicates of knowledge may serve as an evidential strategy to convey the values of visual source and circumstantial inference from the vantage point of the subject of the main clause. Both evidential values involve direct perception that underlies knowledge acquisition. The complementizer hóti often indicates propositional content that is underpinned by generally accessible evidence and is easily assimilated or already known by the participants of the communication. Finally, ho:s, grammaticalized from the corresponding adverbial meaning 'how', may mark propositions that some interlocutors do not readily accept in the common ground of the communication. These uses of hóti and ho:s match the distinction between intersubjective and subjective statements, which are conceptualized as evidentially contrasting by Nuyts (2001). The hypotheses are tested on a corpus of forensic and political speeches by the ten Attic orators.