Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vincent DeCaen <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>]

i'm not sure what to make of this, but i throw this out for your
weekend amusement. two notes on the use of maqqef and violations in
genesis 1.

1. the stress clash is generally resolved in tiberian hebrew by use of
the maqqef. there is suggestive evidence that the status of this
maqqef is different from some others, but in any case it's pretty darn
consistent.  except in genesis, yhi 'or, the only apparent stress
clash not resolved. perhaps an argument for the omnipotence of god?
only god can violate a prosodic necessity?

2. studying use of maqqef to define useful notion of long vs short
prosodic word. in verse final phrases, either particle et appears with
maqqef or on a disjunctive tipha. assumption: difference is
attributable to prosodic weight of noun, therefore empirical evidence
being collected to aid in defining long word. elan dresher's writing a
paper on it currently.
interesting that of the 1000s of ets, only in genesis 1:1 can you find
an exception: et ha$$omayim w'et ho'oretz. it's almost like they're
saying the verse v  e  r   y   s    l    o    w      l       y.

;-)

don't know what to make of it, except that there is a special reading.
someone suggested that there is a special trope in chanting ch 1:
maybe someone knows more about that?

have a great weekend. going to be beautiful in the big T O.
cheers
V
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dr Vincent DeCaen     <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>
c/o Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, 4 Bancroft Ave., 2d floor
University of Toronto, Toronto ON, CANADA, M5S 1A1

Hebrew Syntax Encoding Initiative, www.chass.utoronto.ca/~decaen/hsei/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The mind takes to a new idea the way the body takes to microbe:
It rejects it.  --P.D. Medawar