Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Galia Hatav <ghatav AT aall.ufl.edu>]

Dear Dave, Matthew Anstey, Randal Buth and all the others,


I saw that a discussion on the BH forms were on again in the list. I was
going to add my input, but I was too busy with the end of the semester, and
by the time I was more available for other things rather than grading etc.,
it seemed like the discussion died out.  I hope it is OK for you that I
restart it again.

 I think Dave got acurate intuition, that <wayyiqtol> is independent, as
opposed to <qatal>. However, I think that this independence is not
syntactic (see the first clause in Gen 1:1 and clauses in direct speech).
Dave, I thought you "bought" the idea that this independence has to do with
Reference-Time-Building, where <wayyiqtol> builds its own R-time but
<qatal> does not. Let us call <wayyiqtol> and <wqatal> R-builders, as
opposed to <qatal> and <yiqtol> (and <qotel>, too). This will get rid of
the notion of "sequentiality," which I consider to be a derived property
from R-building. (I might need a therapist to help me deal with this
decision...)

        I want to leave this short, so I'll stop here.

All the best and Happy New Year.


Galia