The Verb in Classical Hebrew

The consecutive tenses are fundamental in all descriptions of Classical Hebrew grammar. They are even basic to the textbooks on Biblical Hebrew. Being fundamental in the verbal system, and part of any beginner’s grammar, they pose a serious problem to a linguistic understanding of the verbal system,...

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author Isaksson, Bo
author_browse Isaksson, Bo
author_facet Isaksson, Bo
author_sort Isaksson, Bo
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The consecutive tenses are fundamental in all descriptions of Classical Hebrew grammar. They are even basic to the textbooks on Biblical Hebrew. Being fundamental in the verbal system, and part of any beginner’s grammar, they pose a serious problem to a linguistic understanding of the verbal system, since grammars describe an alternation of ‘forms’ or ‘tenses’ in double pairs: wayyiqṭol alternates with its ‘equivalent’ qaṭal, and wə-qaṭal alternates with its ‘equivalent’ yiqṭol. This ‘enigma’ in the verbal system is handled in the book by recognising that the alternation of the consecutive tenses with other tenses, in the reality of the text, represents a linking of clauses. The ‘consecutive tenses’ are clause-types with a natural language connective wa- directly followed by a finite verbal morpheme, a type of clause that expressed continuity in the earliest stage of Semitic. The commonly held assumption that there is a special ‘consecutive waw’ is unwarranted. The use of the ‘consecutive’ clause-types in order to express discourse continuity indicates that Classical Hebrew has retained the old unmarked declarative word order of Semitic syntax. Seen in the light of recent research on the Tiberian reading tradition, the ‘consecutive’ wayyiqṭol can be analysed as a retention of the old Semitic past perfective *wa-yaqtul, which was pronounced wa-yiqṭol in Classical Hebrew. The ‘consecutive’ wə-qāṭal (pronounced wa-qaṭal in the classical language) constitutes the result of an internal Hebrew development into a construction (in the sense of Joan Bybee) already foreshadowed in the earliest Northwest Semitic languages. The book understands the ‘consecutive tenses’ as discourse continuity clauses, which typically form chains of main line clauses. Such chains can be interrupted by other types of clauses. This interruption is a clause linking that receives special attention in the interpretation of the Classical Hebrew verbal system. Chapter six presents a regenerated text linguistics founded on the new terminology. A clause linking approach is the central methodological procedure in this book. To this must be added diachronic typology in a comparative Semitic setting. The linguistic examples of clause linking are gathered from a large Classical Hebrew corpus, the Pentateuch and the Book of Judges, and made searchable in a database of 6559 non-archaic text records.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1456472024-09-19T04:12:15Z The Verb in Classical Hebrew Isaksson, Bo consecutive tenses;Classical Hebrew;verbal system;clause linking;Semitic syntax;discourse continuity thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSJ Hebrew The consecutive tenses are fundamental in all descriptions of Classical Hebrew grammar. They are even basic to the textbooks on Biblical Hebrew. Being fundamental in the verbal system, and part of any beginner’s grammar, they pose a serious problem to a linguistic understanding of the verbal system, since grammars describe an alternation of ‘forms’ or ‘tenses’ in double pairs: wayyiqṭol alternates with its ‘equivalent’ qaṭal, and wə-qaṭal alternates with its ‘equivalent’ yiqṭol. This ‘enigma’ in the verbal system is handled in the book by recognising that the alternation of the consecutive tenses with other tenses, in the reality of the text, represents a linking of clauses. The ‘consecutive tenses’ are clause-types with a natural language connective wa- directly followed by a finite verbal morpheme, a type of clause that expressed continuity in the earliest stage of Semitic. The commonly held assumption that there is a special ‘consecutive waw’ is unwarranted. The use of the ‘consecutive’ clause-types in order to express discourse continuity indicates that Classical Hebrew has retained the old unmarked declarative word order of Semitic syntax. Seen in the light of recent research on the Tiberian reading tradition, the ‘consecutive’ wayyiqṭol can be analysed as a retention of the old Semitic past perfective *wa-yaqtul, which was pronounced wa-yiqṭol in Classical Hebrew. The ‘consecutive’ wə-qāṭal (pronounced wa-qaṭal in the classical language) constitutes the result of an internal Hebrew development into a construction (in the sense of Joan Bybee) already foreshadowed in the earliest Northwest Semitic languages. The book understands the ‘consecutive tenses’ as discourse continuity clauses, which typically form chains of main line clauses. Such chains can be interrupted by other types of clauses. This interruption is a clause linking that receives special attention in the interpretation of the Classical Hebrew verbal system. Chapter six presents a regenerated text linguistics founded on the new terminology. A clause linking approach is the central methodological procedure in this book. To this must be added diachronic typology in a comparative Semitic setting. The linguistic examples of clause linking are gathered from a large Classical Hebrew corpus, the Pentateuch and the Book of Judges, and made searchable in a database of 6559 non-archaic text records. 2024-09-19T04:12:11Z 2024-09-19T04:12:11Z 2024-09-18T09:58:07Z 2024 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/93332 9781805113508 9781805113515 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/145647 eng Semitic Languages and Cultures open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/93332/1/obp.0414.pdf Open Book Publishers 10.11647/OBP.0414 10.11647/OBP.0414 b014b543-78bd-4c3b-bc71-b68e2ac855b9 9781805113508 9781805113515 751 Cambridge open access
spellingShingle consecutive tenses;Classical Hebrew;verbal system;clause linking;Semitic syntax;discourse continuity
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology
thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSJ Hebrew
Isaksson, Bo
The Verb in Classical Hebrew
title The Verb in Classical Hebrew
title_full The Verb in Classical Hebrew
title_fullStr The Verb in Classical Hebrew
title_full_unstemmed The Verb in Classical Hebrew
title_short The Verb in Classical Hebrew
title_sort verb in classical hebrew
topic consecutive tenses;Classical Hebrew;verbal system;clause linking;Semitic syntax;discourse continuity
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology
thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSJ Hebrew
topic_facet consecutive tenses;Classical Hebrew;verbal system;clause linking;Semitic syntax;discourse continuity
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFF Historical and comparative linguistics
thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CF Linguistics::CFK Grammar, syntax and morphology
thema EDItEUR::2 Language qualifiers::2C Afro-Asiatic languages::2CS Semitic languages::2CSJ Hebrew
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/93332
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