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b-hebrew - Re[2]: 1 Kgs 1:40

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: Peter_Kirk AT sil.org
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re[2]: 1 Kgs 1:40
  • Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 21:15 -0500 (EST)


It seems that in trying to distinguish "adjective" and "participle"
here we are trying to force Hebrew into Indo-European grammatical
categories. There are many languages in the world which do not have
adjectives as a separate grammatical category, they can all be
considered as participles of stative verbs. Hebrew may not go so far,
but many at least of its adjectives are linked closely to stative
verbs - in other cases perhaps only the participle forms are attested
in the limited surviving texts. So perhaps it would be better to treat
at least these adjectives under discussion as participles of stative
verbs in every case, rather than try to make artificial distinctions
and speculate on transformations from one meaning to another. OK,
these adjectives are not morphologically the same as non-stative verb
participles either, but this would be only one of a number of
morphological differences.

Peter Kirk




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