Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Paul Zellmer <zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph>]

Vincent DeCaen wrote:

> a bee in my bonnet:
>
> exodus 1:12, W:KA):A$ER Y:(AN.W. )OTOW
>
> why 'oto? why not ye`annuhu with suffixed object? surely this is not
> free variation? but if not, **what** is the difference? it's not
> syntactic or semantic as such: maybe discourse related? tracking
> participants differently?
>
> what say?

Hey, Vince,

I realize that my opinion will not carry much weight with you, but I'll
give it
anyway.

Based on a recent brief analysis kicked off by trying to figure out why
some
possessives are expressed as relative clauses [(A:$ER LIY vs the
suffixed -IY], I
postulate that one possible cause *could* be a heightened focus on the
pronoun.

In this case here, though, it looks more like the same force that drives
the lengthened vowels in pausal forms.  The clause you're examining is
made up only of the relative pronoun, the verb, and the pronoun. 
Lengthening the pronoun by using the )"T form has roughly the same
effect as the comma's pause in English.

FWIW,

Paul
--
Paul and Dee Zellmer, Jimmy Guingab, Geoffrey Beltran
Ibanag Translation Project
Cabagan, Isabela, Rep. of Philippines

zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph