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  • From: peter_kirk AT sil.org
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re[4]: Prototype Theory and Hebrew Tense/Aspect
  • Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 20:34:45 -0500


See my comments below.

Peter Kirk


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Subject: Re[3]: Prototype Theory and Hebrew Tense/Aspect
Author: <dwashbur AT nyx.net> at Internet
Date: 14/12/1999 15:34


> washburn:
> >>[+past +perfective +realis -dependence -subordination]
> kirk:
> >Yes, your set of features looks good, and you're probably right that
> >sequence does not really fit here.
>
> well, if you're talking prototype (and network semantics)
>
> then you'll have to do something more with vayyiqtol.

Not necessarily. That's what we're trying to sort out.

> the features listed above are the prototype of qatal
> in narrative and direct speech, (+ ki-clauses and asher- clauses).
> if you don't like sequence for vayyiqtol, and i wouldn't push it,
> then at least +thematic ('theme advancing saliency').
>
> see how easy it is to talk about a prototype?

Of course it's easy to talk about it, but demonstrating it is another
matter. I find that beginning an investigation with a foregone
conclusion doesn't produce much in the way of improved
knowledge. ...

PK: But some people structure their discourses so that their
conclusion ("you'll have to do something more with vayyiqtol")
appears before the detailed argument in its favour ("the features
listed above are the prototype of qatal..."). That is not circular
reasoning.

.. And the set I suggested is hardly what you describe, since it
includes [-dependence -subordination] which is definitely not a
feature set of ki and asher clauses!

PK: So, Dave, can you propose a set of features which distinguish
prototype QATAL (or perhaps just X-QATAL) from prototype WAYYIQTOL?
You need to do better than [+dependence] or [+subordination].
Actually we can't even use [-sequential], as recently demonstrated
in some passages quoted re Genesis 1:1. Maybe [-foreground] would
be more promising, but again that's a discourse feature. But if we
can't get even this far, the prototype approach doesn't look very
promising!

> as for aspect and tense, they are both semantic categories, and to be
> distinguished from the lexically bound semantics of 'kind of action'.
> semantics, of course, must be integrated to syntax and surface structures
> in order to have any linguistic relevancy for a particular language.

PK: Kimmo Huovila argues at length against any fundamental distinction
between aspect and Aktionsart on the basis that neither is clearly
semantic or clearly lexical. Meanwhile I think I can demonstrate from
Russian both that aspect (perfective/imperfective distinction) is a
morphological category inseparable from the force of certain
morphemes, and that it is inseparable from lexical semantics (and from
Aktionsart) - which causes problems for you who try to separate syntax
from semantics. If you are interested, I will send some evidence off
list.

"Of course"? Once again we seem to be assuming what we're
setting out to prove, otherwise known as circular reasoning.
Semantics do indeed need to be integrated into syntax and surface
structures, but the key phrase there is "surface structures."
Seeking to determine the force of a particular syntactic feature
necessarily takes us well below surface structure, so the
statement is correct but irrelevant.

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.
Psalm 86:11





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