Pronomen Abundans and Pronomen Coniunctum. A ... - DWC

PRONOMEN ABUNDANS AND PRONOMEN CONIUNCTUM 107
which a story-teller can connect his sentences. We know that it was used
in literary texts, but we mayalso assume that it occurred in common
speech, though less of ten.
Proof of this may be found in the fact that among the discussed examples
there are some where the author, while writing one,!, may have been
thinking of onov 403. And the use of onov was restricted almost completely
to the spoken language. As another piece of evidence may be considered
the fa ct that in works, written in so-called vulgar Greek, as the Chronicle
ol M orea and the Chronicle of Machairas the relat. connection is not
missing. Admittedly the language of these works does not represent
daily speech, for they are written. On the other hand, however, it must
be said that, if relat. connection is found there, it must also have occurred
in colloquial speech. This brings us to our last argument: one can also
hear relat. connection in the spoken language of to-day. How of ten does
not one hear onov, ono7:8 and forms of ó ónotoç at the beginning of a
sentence! 404.
6. THE WEAKENING OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUN
From many examples discussed in the preceding paragraphs it appears
that the traditional relat. pronoun was weakening and perhaps even
disappearing. Especially the instanees given in 5.3.5 and 5.3.6 are illustrative.
Are there any more indications?
6.1. A complete survey of the use of the relat. pronouns by one author
is what one needs in order to understand what was the situation of the
traditional relat. pronouns. Weierholt gives us such a survey of the
Chronicle of Malalas. It shows that not all the forms are in use any longer,
and that the majority of the used forms is employed in set phrases or in
simp Ie clauses. Weierholt's conclusion is 405: "Wir müssen es so verste hen ,
dass sich die Rel. sätze mit öç und oanç im Aussterben befinden. Zwar
halten sie sich in der Schrift, wie so viel anderes, der freie Gebrauch
davon ist jedoch bei Malalas sehr beschränkt".
6.2. Kapsomenakis quotes from some papyri relat. clauses in which the
relat. pronoun appears in the fossilized form of ov (to be considered
perhaps as a more learned form for onov 406) :
P. Mon. 101,25 (594 A.D.) ... aVÀijç, ov xat rà aÀÀo fjfllav fléeoç aVÀijç
àv~xelv (= àv~x8l) ijfliv.
The word avÀijç may be considered as redundant, inserted in order to
indicate the antecedent of ov.
403 See 5.3.6 and note 377.
404 All kinds of people do this, not only illiterate peasants (these even less of ten
than the more educated classes), on condition, of course, that they are telling something.
405 Weierholt, p . 2l.
406 Cf. 3.1.2.2.