Papers by yona gonopolsky
The resemblance between the Gospel story about Jesus stilling a storm in the Sea of Galilee (Mt. ... more The resemblance between the Gospel story about Jesus stilling a storm in the Sea of Galilee (Mt. 8:18, 23-27, Mk. 4:35-41, Lk. 8:22-25) and the Jonah story (Jon. 1:1-16) has been long acknowledged by scholars. This article contends that since the relations between the two stories are those of polar opposition, it should be possible, by way of reversal, to reconstruct from the three Synoptic versions of the storm-stilling story another three underlying images of Jonah, in addition to the multiply and often contradictory images of this unusual figure, current in the Second Temple literature. Aside from it, the comparison to other storm-stilling stories and a brief discussion of the "Sign of Jonah" pericope yield some additional methodological insights.
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This paper deals with the underlying characterizations of Jonah in the synoptic accounts of Jesus... more This paper deals with the underlying characterizations of Jonah in the synoptic accounts of Jesus' stilling the storm. I claim that since Jesus is diametrically opposed to Jonah in this story, his respective characterizations in the synoptic accounts may serve as an indication ab opposito of three diverse ways of characterization of Jonah, which in turn may be set in a broader context of Jonah's images in the contemporary literature. Also, the possibility and the criteria of the interpretative move applied in this paper, as well as the possibility of its further application to other storm-stilling stories, are discussed in detail.
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Thesis Chapters by yona gonopolsky
PhD Proposal: Patterns and tendencies in the verbal representation of non-verbal communication in Ancient Greek narrative prose (Hebrew), 2019
Verbal conceptualization of a nonverbal cue, being a sign referring to another sign in a differen... more Verbal conceptualization of a nonverbal cue, being a sign referring to another sign in a different sign system, is a complex semantic phenomenon. A native speaker's language competence enables him or her to intuitively understand the semantics not only of the nonverbal cue itself, but also of those expressions by which this cue is linguistically conceptualized; also, native competence enables the speaker to decide which modifiers are compatible with which expression -- and so on. Having mapped and analyzed such data, one can further arrive at broader generalizations as to the linguistic world picture (sprachliches Weltbild) of the speakers and their deep cultural presuppositions. However, as far as a dead language, such as Ancient Greek, is concerned, much of what is considered as prior knowledge by students of nonverbal phraseology in living languages, for a student of Ancient Greek is the unknown. By means of an in-depth philological and comparative study of a diachronically and culturally inclusive corpus of Greek narrative prose, I hope to arrive at a better understanding of the Greek nonverbal phraseology, including being able to provide a set of valid explanations to the variation of the verbal conceptualization of one and the same phenomenon (or lack thereof), to map the compatibility of various modifying elements with various groups of expressions, and so on. Only thus will be enabled an accurate and, with all due reservations, reasonably valid description of the linguistic world picture of the Ancient Greek speakers (or rather writers) for a number of periods and cultural milieus -- as well as possible discovery of panhellenic universalia.
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This study concerns the representation of the dynamics in openings of face-to-face interaction, b... more This study concerns the representation of the dynamics in openings of face-to-face interaction, both verbal and nonverbal, in a corpus of Attic writers from the 5th-4th centuries BC with distinctive dialogal and interactive orientation, namely Plato, Theophrastus (in his Characters), Aristophanes and Menander. One aim of this study is to trace a selection of normative codes of behavior and representational conventions of the activities in the conversational openings in these authors and to discuss their implications for characterization, which in the Greek literature is intrinsically connected to the deviation from some ideal norm. Another aim of this study is to explore the ways in which different representational features, like the narrator’s voice and stage conventions, may affect both the normative judgement of the activity in question and the characterization which such judgement may imply.
The activity of the opening of a face-to-face interaction may be divided into modular patterned units, such as ways of capturing attention, ways of reducing the physical gap, forms of address, greetings, etc.. Each particular case consists of a number of such building-blocks, whereas others may be omitted. Thus viewed, each case appears as a complex, idiosyncratic event, whose dynamics are affected by multiple factors. In order to organize the discussion, one case has been chosen, that of Socrates’ entering the palaestra of Taureas in the opening of Plato’s Charmides, to serve as a basis for the discussion as a whole. First, the clearcut distinction between the generic normal behavior on the one hand and the deviant, and hence characterizing behavior on the other hand, which many scholars tend to see in this case, has been challenged by way of reconstruction of the event represented in this case and calling attention to the behavioral patterns of the character with whose voice the case is narrated, i.e. Socrates. Such a move has required, in turn, a reconsideration of all those activities, of which the dynamics featured in the basic case, and of the conventions of their representation, in a broader comparative context.
Thus, each of the chapters of this study deals with one of the building-blocks of the basis case: the topic of Chapter 1 is calling from afar, Chapter 2 deals with approach by running, Chapter 3 with handshake, and Chapter 4 is dedicated to conversational openings with one of the participants having recently come from afar. Each chapter opens with some discussion of the points of comparison relevant to the analysis of the cases, and after a description of the relevant cases in the corpus, a series of comparative discussions is offered, concluding with an intermediate summary in which the findings of the chapter are re-applied to the basic case. Apart from an updated interpretation of the basic case, the comparative method used in this study affords the exposure of some conventions, both at the level of the represented dynamics and at the level of their representation.
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Papers by yona gonopolsky
Thesis Chapters by yona gonopolsky
The activity of the opening of a face-to-face interaction may be divided into modular patterned units, such as ways of capturing attention, ways of reducing the physical gap, forms of address, greetings, etc.. Each particular case consists of a number of such building-blocks, whereas others may be omitted. Thus viewed, each case appears as a complex, idiosyncratic event, whose dynamics are affected by multiple factors. In order to organize the discussion, one case has been chosen, that of Socrates’ entering the palaestra of Taureas in the opening of Plato’s Charmides, to serve as a basis for the discussion as a whole. First, the clearcut distinction between the generic normal behavior on the one hand and the deviant, and hence characterizing behavior on the other hand, which many scholars tend to see in this case, has been challenged by way of reconstruction of the event represented in this case and calling attention to the behavioral patterns of the character with whose voice the case is narrated, i.e. Socrates. Such a move has required, in turn, a reconsideration of all those activities, of which the dynamics featured in the basic case, and of the conventions of their representation, in a broader comparative context.
Thus, each of the chapters of this study deals with one of the building-blocks of the basis case: the topic of Chapter 1 is calling from afar, Chapter 2 deals with approach by running, Chapter 3 with handshake, and Chapter 4 is dedicated to conversational openings with one of the participants having recently come from afar. Each chapter opens with some discussion of the points of comparison relevant to the analysis of the cases, and after a description of the relevant cases in the corpus, a series of comparative discussions is offered, concluding with an intermediate summary in which the findings of the chapter are re-applied to the basic case. Apart from an updated interpretation of the basic case, the comparative method used in this study affords the exposure of some conventions, both at the level of the represented dynamics and at the level of their representation.
The activity of the opening of a face-to-face interaction may be divided into modular patterned units, such as ways of capturing attention, ways of reducing the physical gap, forms of address, greetings, etc.. Each particular case consists of a number of such building-blocks, whereas others may be omitted. Thus viewed, each case appears as a complex, idiosyncratic event, whose dynamics are affected by multiple factors. In order to organize the discussion, one case has been chosen, that of Socrates’ entering the palaestra of Taureas in the opening of Plato’s Charmides, to serve as a basis for the discussion as a whole. First, the clearcut distinction between the generic normal behavior on the one hand and the deviant, and hence characterizing behavior on the other hand, which many scholars tend to see in this case, has been challenged by way of reconstruction of the event represented in this case and calling attention to the behavioral patterns of the character with whose voice the case is narrated, i.e. Socrates. Such a move has required, in turn, a reconsideration of all those activities, of which the dynamics featured in the basic case, and of the conventions of their representation, in a broader comparative context.
Thus, each of the chapters of this study deals with one of the building-blocks of the basis case: the topic of Chapter 1 is calling from afar, Chapter 2 deals with approach by running, Chapter 3 with handshake, and Chapter 4 is dedicated to conversational openings with one of the participants having recently come from afar. Each chapter opens with some discussion of the points of comparison relevant to the analysis of the cases, and after a description of the relevant cases in the corpus, a series of comparative discussions is offered, concluding with an intermediate summary in which the findings of the chapter are re-applied to the basic case. Apart from an updated interpretation of the basic case, the comparative method used in this study affords the exposure of some conventions, both at the level of the represented dynamics and at the level of their representation.