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  • From: "Henry Churchyard" <churchh AT usa.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: cantillation makes a difference
  • Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 13:14:27 -0600 (CST)


> Subject: Re: cantillation makes a difference
> From: Jerry <jrs AT renome.rovno.ua>
> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 17:36:30 +0300

> Monday, January 31, 2000, 5:46:31 PM, Vincent DeCaen wrote:

>> if i remember correctly, Isaiah 40:3, "a voice crying ...."

> You know, this verse was always interesting to me, but I'm not
> enough familiar with cantillation marks. Are the cantillations
> reliable for this verse? If yes what is the reading (along with
> meaning): "A voice crying, ..." or "A voice crying in the desert, "
> ?

Here's a representation of the constituency of the accentual parse of
Isaiah 40:3, according to transliteration conventions used in my
dissertation. Note that in strictly logical, terms, the major pause
break within the verse should be after _qore'_ or _bamidbar_
(depending on which reading was adopted), not after _yashru_. The
reason for the location of the major break after _yashru_ is due to
the frequent accentual constituency rearrangement of logical
(syntactic) structure [X [Y Z]] to accentual structure [[X Y] Z]
(especially when X is a brief introductory phrase, and the units [X Y]
and Z are approximately balanced in prosodic weight). The important
thing here is that _bamidbar_ is grouped most closely with what
immediately follows, not with what immediately precedes:

[1[2[3 qo6wl qowre3' 3]
[3[3 b:am:id.b:A3r 3]
[3[3 p:an:u3w 3]
[3 d:E6rEk y.hwA2h 3]3]3]2]
[2[3[4 yaS:.ruw_4 4]
[4 b:A`.arAbA3h 4]3]
[3[3 m.sil:A3h 3]
[3 le'lohe1ynuw; 3]3]2]1]

--
Henry Churchyard churchh AT usa.net http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/




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