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Re: 1 Sam 31:5: was Saul necessarily dead?DW

From: yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>
To: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: 1 Sam 31:5: was Saul necessarily dead?DW
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 06:39:32 -0500

DW:
>I'm wondering why we have to consider M"T a
>perfect and not a participle? If it's the latter then we read "[he] saw
>that Saul was dying."

it is more probable, linguistically:
the word order Predicate-Subject is the DEFAULT word order for a suffix
tense
but it is a pragmatically marked order for the participle.
thus, the suffix tense is the first, natural reading in processing. and
relevance theory
would add that you don't go for 'extra' processing unless something pushes
you.

elef braxot
randall buth

Re: 1 Sam 31:5: was Saul necessarily dead?DW, yochanan bitan, 12/31/1999