Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT sil.org]

Interesting question. But I also suspect a misunderstanding. Am I not 
right in saying that the pausal forms affect the vocalisation only? 
And so Baruch would not have made any distinction when writing these 
down. The pausal forms were surely written down by the Masoretes based 
on the pronunciation (including the positions in the text of pauses) 
in use in their time. Presumably the presence of a pausal form at a 
particular point is no stronger evidence than a cantillation mark for 
a major division that there should actually be a logical break at that 
point. On the other hand, is there any evidence for pausal forms in 
pre-Masoretic texts e.g. Origen's transliteration in the Hexapla?

I would feel sure, from my understanding of languages in general, that 
pausal forms are essentially a feature of spoken language which later 
came to be written down. I don't think they can be accounted for from 
the written language only. The whole thing could be linked to the 
chanting used in the synagogue which was heard by the Masoretes. But 
it could equally have arisen in regular spoken language. Most 
languages, including English, have variations in intonation and 
sometimes stress and voicing before a pause. These variations can 
easily, over a long period, become changes in vowel quality and 
length, causing for example an E vowel to change to an A vowel before 
a pause. Normal speakers would not even be aware of these changes. 
Compare the way English vowels which are normally reduced become 
pronounced in full when the particular word is stressed, even with 
"the" and "a". The Masoretes simply listened carefully and wrote down 
the vowels which they heard.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Pausal Forms
Author:  manstey AT portal.ca at internet
Date:    05/07/1999 19:24


Gday all,

Just a question of curiosity for me.

I was wondering if anyone thinks that native BH speakers would have been 
able to use pausal forms in everyday speech situations. Or were such words 
just spelled differently in written texts? So Baruch, when hearing Jeremiah 
say "ha'erets" spoken in a pausal sentence position (or by some other 
mechanism ???) would have written down automatically "ha'arets". What other 
hypostheses could explain their presence in the MT?

Assuming they were part of the everyday speech use, has anyone done work on 
the linguistic rules by which a native speaker would generate these forms? 
Presumably they could make any form pausal if it was necessary. Would they 
be primarily syntactic and/or pragmatic? And do pausal forms always appear 
where predicted?

Thanks for your insights,
Matthew Anstey



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