Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Galia Hatav <ghatav AT aall.ufl.edu>]

Dear All,

A friend asked me to forward this to the members on the list.

Galia

>Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 18:43:21 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Edit Doron <doron AT ling.ucsc.edu>
>To: Galia Hatav <ghatav AT aall.ufl.edu>
>Subject: letter to post
>MIME-Version: 1.0
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>VAA22448
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>
>Professor Laszlo Hunyadi of the University of Debrecen will be in Virginia
>in mind-June and would like to give talks (before/after) about his work on
>Biblical Hebrew. If you would like to invite him, please contact Professor
>Anna Szabolcsi at NYU Linguistics Department:  anna.szabolcsi AT nyu.edu
>
>>>       The Logical Aspects of the Prosody of Biblical Hebrew
>>>                                    L·szlÛ Hunyadi
>>>              Dept. of General and Applied Linguistics
>>>                          KLTE, Debrecen, Hungary
>>>                E-mail: hunyadi AT LLAB2.arts.klte.hu
>>>
>>>
>>>There are at least two questions which one may ask immediately upon reading
>>>the title:
>>>
>>>1. Prosody being that aspect of language which is associated with
>>>intonation and stress, i.e. with those properties of language that are only
>>>manifest in the language we speak, how can one study prosody without
>>>phonetic recordings of a language of the distant past?
>>>
>>>2. Even if phonetic recordings were available, how can prosody be
>>>associated with logic?
>>>
>>>Although the second question assumes a positive answer to the first one, it
>>>is still easier to answer the second. We all have the experience that a
>>>sentence can be uttered in may ways and that the choice of a specific tone
>>>or emphasis can carry specific meanings, ranging, among others,  from
>>>curiosity to surprise to neglect  or the like. This is the emotional or
>>>pragmatic function of prosody. There is yet another aspect.  Consider the
>>>following sentence: "John met Mary after the movie." If we give emphasis to
>>>"Mary" or "the movie", the meaning of the utterance will be different. In
>>>the first case, it will convey information about "meeting MARY", whereas in
>>>the second, about "meeting after THE MOVIE". Here, the phonological
>>>emphasis conveys differences in focus. Consider now the negative
>>>counterpart of the same sentence: "John did not meet Mary after the movie".
>>>Applying the same pattern of emphasis to the sentence as above, we will
>>>receive information about "not meeting MARY" and "not meeting after THE
>>>MOVIE", respectively. What we witness here is a fundamental contribution of
>>>phonological emphasis to the prepositional logical content of the
>>>utterance, i.e.,  the different scope of the negative operator. Since it
>>>has been shown that prosody has the general property of being associated
>>>with the expression of logical scope  across languages (this is one of the
>>>parameters of Universal Grammar, i.e. the aspect of linguistics that
>>>describes those abstract properties of languages which are common to all,
>>>cf. Hunyadi 1998), it may appear challenging to see if these properties can
>>>be verified across time as well. Biblical Hebrew, with its "ta'amei
>>>haMikra" or "ta'amim", i.e. the cantillation signs fixed by the Masoretes
>>>of Tiberias by the middle of the 10th century C.E., as the present research
>>>reveals,  appears to meet this challenge.
>>>
>>>It was my intuition at the very outset of the project that the main
>>>function of the musical notes had come to represent the prosody of speech
>>>spoken more than a 1000 years ago. We know many descriptive facts about
>>>this peculiar system of notation (especially regarding the disjunctive and
>>>conjunctive values of the signs and their relative linear order, cf. Wickes
>>>1881, 1887, Yeivin 1980), but we do not know the basic principle behind it,
>>>by the help of which the various accentuation patterns could be generated
>>>or reproduced.  Knowing however, that the main purpose of the Masoretes was
>>>to preserve the sense  of the Biblical text, the assumption that the system
>>>is prosodic in nature,  may seem acceptable at the first glance: no
>>>commentary or annotation can preserve the sense of a text more than its
>>>prosody. "Hearing" the same may well mean "reading" the same. According to
>>>our assumption, the Masoretes were well aware of this fundamental role of
>>>prosody.
>>>
>>>In order for us to describe the prosodic nature of the system of the
>>>ta'amim, two steps had to be made: each and every cantillation sign had to
>>>be associated with some prosodic value, and the given prosodic
>>>interpretation had to be verified by independent data. In the study of
>>>modern languages verification is straightforward: native informants have
>>>the language capacity to decide on the acceptability (grammaticality) of
>>>various linguistic forms, including prosodic structure. With the obvious
>>>lack of native informants in the case of Biblical Hebrew, the only source
>>>of independent argumentation can come from Universal Grammar, a universal
>>>theory of prosody. Since no such theory for prosody is available at
>>>present, our first task was to propose a fragment of this  theory by
>>>describing important prosodic parameters for certain syntactic and
>>>pragmatic constructions, including coordination, disjunction, anaphoric and
>>>pronominal binding.
>>>
>>>We associated the ta'amim with segmental prosodic (pausal and tonal)
>>>values, corresponding to the basic prosodic parameters of the baseline, the
>>>upper line, the downstep (or decline), pausal and level tones. Next, these
>>>tones were distributed according to two speech registers: the low register
>>>(R1) and the high register (R2). The intonation contour of an utterance
>>>then is the result of the concatenation of adjacent prosodic segments.
>>>
>>>The existence of the two speech registers can be supported by the
>>>following. The starting pitch of a declarative utterance depends on its
>>>length: the longer  an utterance, at the higher pitch level it starts
>>>(within the physically possible limits). The distribution of the R1 and R2
>>>ta'amim directly reflects this universal property of intonation: shorter
>>>verses start with R1, and longer verses with R2 cantillation signs.
>>>
>>>The segmental tonal values of the ta'amim can be supported by a number of
>>>generalizations regarding the prosodic realization of various syntactic and
>>>pragmatic structures. The topic-reading of the sense of a constituent
>>>supports the rising tone interpretation of certain signs (topic is
>>>generally associated with a rising intonation contour); the focus-reading
>>>of some constituents supports the falling tone interpretation of some other
>>>signs. The senses of known and new information, generally associated with a
>>>given intonation contour, support the respective tonal interpretation of
>>>other signs. Observations regarding the prosodic realization of coordinated
>>>and disjunctive structures with the last member of the structure being
>>>prosodically different from that of the previous members also help identify
>>>the appropriate prosodic functions of some ta'amim.
>>>
>>>Having now a comprehensive picture of the system of intonation, it can be
>>>conclude that, although the study of the relation between the above
>>>syntactic and pragmatic constructions and prosody helps in identifying the
>>>prosodic system of the ta'amim, by no means can the particular signs be
>>>associated with just one specific syntactic or pragmatic/logical function.
>>>And this is natural: it is the overall intonation contour of an utterance
>>>in conjunction with its syntactic structure that determines the various
>>>functions of prosody. The basic predicate logical relations are no
>>>exception: they universally follow some predifined intonation patterns.
>>>With the intonation of Biblical Hebrew revealed, now they can be
>>>straightforwardly identified.
>>>
>>>In all, what the Masoretes did was to indicate the consecutive sequence of
>>>tonal and pausal segments, the concatenations of which results in the
>>>reconstruction of the intonation contour of the given utterance. This is
>>>the help the Masoretes offered the reader of distant times to come. The
>>>rest, the syntactic and logical-pragmatic representation is, however, not
>>>arbitrary, it rather follows the universal properties associated with
>>>prosody. That is what made their work efficient: they supplied an efficient
>>>and relatively simple system of notation which was necessary and sufficient
>>>at the same time to preserve the sense of the text. A work successfully
>>>done much ahead of time.
>>>
>>>
>>>References:
>>>
>>>Hunyadi, L., Hungarian Sentence Prosody and Universal Grammar, Debrecen,
>>>1998
>>>Wickes, W. 1881. A Treatise on the Accentuation of the Three so-called
>>>Prose Books of the Old Testament.  Oxford. New York, 1970
>>>Wickes, W. 1887. A Treatise on the Accentuation of the Twenty-One so-called
>>>Prose Books of the Old Testament. Oxford. New York, 1970
>>>Yeivin, I. 1980. Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah. Translated by E.J.
>>>Revell. Missoula
>