Biblical Hebrew Forum

[John Ronning <ronning AT nis.za>]

Hi Matt,

You wrote (re Gen 35:16):

> <snip>
> With the examples given here, and I guess there
> are many others, BH may be one such language. That is, a -instantaneous
> +dynamic +telic verb (called an ACHIEVEMENT usually) may combine with
> wayyiqtol to introduce a tmeporal frame within which subsequent wayyiqtols
> add further detail. Naturally from our pragmatic knowledge of the world, we
> would expect after "And they held a war" to be able to have dozens or even
> hundreds of events in the "war" frame, but if after "and she gave birth" we
> included more than a couple of events the reader would either assume the
> F-frame has been left behind, OR that it is humorous.
>
> What do you think of this proposal?
>
>

I don't have any background in linguistics so I'm not sure if I agree or not 
(haven't
learned your terminology).  I'll just say how I look at this verse.  I don't
necessarily see it as evidence for an imperfective watteled; I would see it 
as the end
of a summary description, with the following watteqash as the beginning of 
details,
thus slightly back-tracking in time.

Is that what you were suggesting?

If I had the time, I'd be interested to find out any difference between the 
usual
yalad plus direct object and what you have here, yalad without an object - 
could the
lack of object make and an imperfective meaning possible?

Congratulations on the yeled/yaldah!

Regards,
John