Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Thank you, Bryan.

I am concerned about your argument that poetry is a more basic form of 
the language than prose - if that is what you are saying. I think the 
opposite is more likely to be true, at least by analogy with other 
languages e.g. Azerbaijani which I am studying. True, prose styles can 
be artificial with special conventions not used in normal speech. But 
also poetry can be very artificial; it can be archaising; and it also 
be very free e.g. in choosing words for their sound rather than for 
their strict grammatical suitability. The last point may be why it is 
actually very difficult to reconstruct the TAM system of Hebrew from 
poetry - because the poets simply used the verb form which sounded 
best, regardless of whether it normally had an uncancellable tense or 
aspect property which contradicted the sense of the poem.

So where can we look to avoid artificial prose styles and poetic 
styles which are both artificial and free? I would suggest looking at 
direct speech - not long set pieces but those small conversational 
speeches which are common in the historical books. There we may find 
something more like the natural language of the Israelites of the 
period of writing.

Peter Kirk

______________________________ Reply Separator 
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Subject: Re[5]: ex 26 + 36.8ff, (36.29)
Author:  596547 AT ican.net at internet
Date:    27/01/1999 11:05


This is a good point about weqatal, Peter.  In BH poetry, the weqatal form 
is not as common as in prose, and I would venture a guess that in Pss, at 
least, most of them have an 'unconverted' qatal value.

Bryan

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