Motion and Posture Verbs in Multiverb Constructions: Evidence from the New Testament

This study deals with two types of multi-verb constructions in New Testament Greek, analysing them from a syntactic, semantic, and textual point of view. In both constructions, a verb of movement or posture (V1) combines with the main verb of the sentence (V2), providing deictic information. The difference between the two constructions lies in the form of V1, which is a participle in one of the constructions and a verb coordinated with the main verb in the other. The study shows that the two constructions have a different distribution based on the following parameters: (1) opposition between story and discourse, (2) lexical type of V1. Finally, the two constructions do not have equal distribution in the four Gospels.