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b-hebrew - Re: Re[2]: Genesis 1 & 2

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  • From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Re[2]: Genesis 1 & 2
  • Date: Sun, 5 Dec 1999 14:21:11 -0700


Jonathan wrote:
> >*shudder* I hope I haven't actually said such a thing, and if I
> >seemed to it certainly wasn't my intention and I apologize at once.
> >I know that views of consecution have been developed after careful
> >study; I just don't happen to agree with them :-) To Jonathan, I
> >should explain that my approach seeks unifying factors in
> >grammatical usage, some sort of "thread" that ties apparently
> >disparate uses of a form together. There are innumerable
> >examples of wayyiqtols that can't be consecutive, so I ask what
> >the tie is that binds consecutive and non-consecutive uses
> >together. I also work from a strict separation of syntax and
> >semantics a la Chomsky. My view is a minority one, I am well
> >aware. But from some chatter I've read here and there as well as
> >some private messages I've received now and again, a view other
> >than consecutivity seems to be gaining some steam. Perhaps in
> >another hundred years or so...And again, if I have implicitly or
> >explicitly suggested that somebody here does any "blind following"
> >of a view, I apologize.
>
> I think the common thread that you are looking for is the fact that
> children learn their
> language by imitation, rather than reading grammar books, and therefore,
> our rules
> don't always apply. For instance, take the English phrase, "that's him".
> According to
> English grammar, the phrase should be "that's he" as "him" is an objective,
> accusative or prepositional case. But somehwere during the course of the
> language's
> history, people got used to seeing he precede the verb and him follow it.
> With Hebrew,
> the vayyiqtol became the standard method of relating narrative past, and so
> it
> assumed this function (in some instances) even when unbound to a previous
> past
> indicating verb.

I'm afraid this is not a legitimate parallel, for the simple reason that
"That's him" is still reasonably comprehensible. This could hardly
be the case with a sequential verb: "And then I saw that it was a
penguin" coming out of the blue at the beginning of a discourse
could hardly catch on as a reasonable alternative form of
expression. Either the verb form was marked for sequentiality or it
wasn't and there are other reasons why it was used for narrative
prose.

> Now what I would be interested in finding is a vayyiqtol that is talking
> about the
> FUTURE, particularly without being bound to a previous future describing
> verb. Can
> you give me a list of unconsecutive vayyiqtols that are NOT describing
> narrative past?

For that I'd suggest you check the archives. Some topics along
these lines have come up within the past few months.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.
Psalm 86:11




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