Two Studies in Attic Particle Usage

Book excerpt: In the first part C.M.J. Sicking - by using two speeches by Lysias - discusses the articulation of the text by devices marking the beginning of sentences. A separate index offers some considerations bearing on the value and use of (1) five so-called 'interactive' particles and (2) some particles found in interrogative sentences. In the second part J.M. van Ophuijsen deals with ουν, ྄ρα, δῄ and τοίνυν, all of them traditionally regarded as 'inferential' particles. The discussion focuses on, but is not restricted to, Plato's Phaedo. There is an 'excursus' on ྄ρα in Herodotus. Both authors have adopted a deliberately eclectic approach, taking advantage of what modern linguistic research has to offer without at the same time neglecting what many generations of scholars from Hoogeveen to Denniston have contributed to our understanding of ancient Greek.