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b-hebrew - Re[2]: Jos 14-21 (was die Flucht ins Prasens (was Ruth))

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  • From: peter_kirk AT sil.org
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re[2]: Jos 14-21 (was die Flucht ins Prasens (was Ruth))
  • Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 22:52:06 -0400


Dear Rolf,

You wrote to Bryan,

"...Do you claim that events in Hebrew expressed by the perfective
aspect *allways* are terminated and events expressed by the
imperfective aspect always are continuing at reference time? If the
answer is yes, Hebrew aspect is similar to English aspect as far as
time is concerned, if the answer is no, Hebrew aspect is different
from English aspect in this respect. Yes, it may possibly mean that
Hebrew aspect is not concerned with time at all, as I claim."

May I ask what you mean here by "Hebrew aspect" and "English aspect"?
It seems to me as if you are here using it to mean "different
Hebrew/English verb paradigms". But earlier in the same posting you
were discussing aspect as a general linguistic concept rather than as
one tied to specific languages. I fear that you are further clouding
already muddy waters by using the word "aspect" in such a range of
different ways. The question you raise in this paragraph would be
better described as the question of how far the distinctions between
Hebrew verb paradigms correspond to the distinctions between English
verb paradigms.

Since the debate about the meaning of the term "aspect" is hardly
relevant to this forum, can I suggest that both you and Bryan try to
rephrase your arguments without using this term (or "perfective" and
"imperfective"). After all, it hardly helps clarity of your argument
to use terms which (as you claim) do not have a single generally
agreed definition.

Peter Kirk





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