Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

I just read over my paper, which I guess I wrote about 10 years ago now.
Chomsky argues that European languages (well, English really)
are made up of subject plus predicate. That is, the object is attached to
the verb in a way that the subject isn't. There is subject-object asymmetry
with respect to the verb. I argue that subject-object asymmetry doesn't
exist in BH, that there is a flat tree structure, and that the Verb binds
equally
with the subject as with the object.  Therefore the subject can intevene
between the verb and the object in deep structure, not just surface
structure.
Liz

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Bill Rea
> Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 12:46 AM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] VSO vs SVO
>
>
> Dave wrote:-
>
>
> >We've been down this road before, and the upside-down methodology is
> >the one that assumes, a priori, that the form most common *within the
> >limited and specialized corpus that has come down to us,* is the most
> >fundamental one.
>
> If your assertion is correct then the question become unaswerable.
> To decide whether Hebrew is VSO or SVO requires evidence. If the
> only evidence we have is deemed an unreliable witness then we are
> stuck.
>
>
> Bill Rea, Information Technology Dept., Canterbury  University  \_
> E-Mail bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz                                </   New
> Phone   64-3-364-2331, Fax     64-3-364-2332                   /)
>  Zealand
> Unix Systems Administrator                                    (/'
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>