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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Psa 107:19-21 (was WAYYIQTOL)

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Sameer Yadav <sameer_yadav2 AT yahoo.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psa 107:19-21 (was WAYYIQTOL)
  • Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 03:58:36 -0800

On 24/03/2004 17:22, Sameer Yadav wrote:

...

So although I appreciate your warning about being
cautious to reject explanations which appear to cover
much of the data, I would also caution you from
accepting an entire theory of modal semantics in
natural language simply because it can be formed in a
neat distribution around the usage of the conjugations
in BH. I think that the relationship has to be
reciprocal, with good reasons to accept the general
semantic account independently of the way those
semantics are uniquely exhibited in one particular
language.


Thank you, Sameer. I agree with you. From the data I have seen, Hatav's hypothesis is neither confirmed nor disproved. And even if it is confirmed for Hebrew, that does not imply that it is generally applicable to all natural languages - any more than are models derived from English, Russian etc. Modality is obviously a rather slippery concept (as we can see from English, Greek etc examples recently posted), and Hatav's definition is not the last word on it.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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