The habitual construction in Sahidic Coptic

Abstract This chapter offers the first synchronic functional analysis of the Habitual in Sahidic Coptic. It is based on six recently edited or re-edited textual sources. We demonstrate that the semantically prototypical Habitual, marked by the morpheme šare/ša= or its alternants, occurs in the narrative discourse mode and operates at the lower layers in the layered structure of Functional Discourse Grammar. This prototypical Habitual is contrasted with other uses of verbal forms marked with šare/ša= which occur in the persuasive, procedural and performative discourse modes and are treated as semantic extensions of the Habitual: generic extensions, quotative indexes, prescriptive Habituals and performatives. The differences between these uses involve their compatibility with specific grammatical operators and modifiers, the possibility to occur in complement clauses and the referential characteristics of the participants.