A gradient for periphrastic constructions with εἶναι in post-Hellenistic Greek: between degree of verbiness and event type

This paper addresses the long-debated question of the periphrastic constructions ‘εἶναι + participle’ in post-Hellenistic Greek in a gradient perspective, and proposes a model in which copula desemanticiza-tion interacts with the complex system of mapping relationships between formal and functional features of predicate, including voice and actionality distinctions. The analyzed corpus consists of the New Testament and non-canonical Judaeo-Christian texts, dating from the II cent. B.C.E. to ca. the VI C.E., in addition to Flavius Josephus’ Antiquitates and Bellum, and a selection of non-literary papyri.