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Levels of Constituent Structure in New Testament Greek (Studies in Biblical Greek)

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All the books in the Studies in Biblical Greek series by Peter Lang pub are fantastic in their own right. This one especially for it's user-friendliness (not very common in technical linguistic writing). The author does a great job of presenting the history of the discipline and the influence of various linguistic theories, explaining each concept in turn. The same is true for his explanation of methodology, a question usually ignored by most grammarians. While his conclusion (that x-bar syntax, the inclusion of word level, intermediate level and phrase level categories are essential for a thorough explanation of NT Greek) is not earth shattering anymore (the book is 15 years old now), the book is worth the price of admission simply to witness the application of linguistic theory to NT Greek in an easily understood manor. This book, in my opinion, can function as a good supplement to introductions to NT linguistics.

I will now offer the following comments about a book written by Michael W. Palmer entitled "Levels of Constituent Structure in NT Greek" (New York: Peter Lang, 1995).

"Levels" is part of a series called "Studies in Biblical Greek" edited by DA Carson (the author of Exegetical Fallacies). The book is approximately 145 pp. in length and is fairly technical in nature.

Palmer's book provides a succinct and clear review of modern linguistic approaches such as rationalism and structuralism as well as transformational-generative grammar. Then he discusses general linguistic methodology and syntactic structures. The main part of his discussion revolves around noun and verb phrases, but Palmer manifests penetrating insight when he suggests a reconsideration of attributive/predicative distinctions with regard to adjectives and a reconsideration of constituent structure levels pertaining to noun and verb phrases.

Palmer's monograph is well-written and it contains some unique linguistic insights. It seems to be governed by transformational-generative grammar, but the work certainly goes beyond similar presentations set forth in the past. Palmer includes a number of tree diagrams, but provides a multitude of examples illustrating constituent structure within the NT. He works with clause-level, phrase-level and word-level constituents. However, Palmer thinks that these kinds of constituents are not sufficient to account for other NT structures. Therefore he suggests an intermediate-level constituent between the clause and the phrase-level.

This intermediate-level constituent is discussed on on page 72 of "Levels" by using Lk 2:13 as an example of the need to use innovative distinctions that he calls N-bar and V-bar. That is, Palmer believes that it is possible (even preferable) to designate some constituents as reduced noun and verb phrases (N-bar and V-bar). He appeals to other constructions in Luke such as Luke 14:12 and 20:37 to substantiate this point.

Palmer's work is valuable for those who want to move beyond studying Greek at the word-level. Additionally, it benefits those who desire to analyze structures at the clause or phrase-level. The writer himself words matters this way:

"The conclusion of this work--that at least three levels of syntactic categories are necessary for an adequate description of New Testament Greek--has little immediate application to problems of exegesis. Rather, it is a first step in a reevaluation of the foundations of New Testament Greek grammar. Many more years of research are necessary before the implications for interpretation of particular tests became apparent. Studies of pragmatics will provide much more direct application to the task of interpretation by probing issues such as conversational implicature, deixis, and rhetoric. Discourse analysis may also play an important role. The present analysis focuses, rather, on syntax" (p. 82).