Biblical Hebrew Forum

["wattswestmaas" <wattswestmaas AT eircom.net>]

  George,  I was going to ask exactly the same question that Noam asked, and
the reason being was this:------- Preterite is a simple past tense form that
is not marked for aspect ------.

Based upon the meaning of 'aspect' I find this definition of preterite
somewhat confusing.  Regards Chris.






Hi Noam!

Aspect is basically about the speaker's perspective (ie, aspect) of the
action. It takes in more information that just tense (timing). One way to
put it is how the action is positioned in relation to the speaker. It allows
you to answer the following questions:

- When did the action occur?
- Does the speaker convey a detailed or non-detailed view of the action?
- Does the speaker consider the action to be a background action or a
foreground action?

You might like to think of aspect as providing you with a 'camera angle' on
the actions, not just a chronology of them.

I hope that makes some sense.

Best regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Lecturer in Biblical Languages
Southern Cross College
Sydney, Australia


  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Noam Eitan
  To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:50 AM
  Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] WAV Conjunction


  Dear George,

  Thanks for this summary. I have despaired of making sense of BH verbal
system. There are places that tolerate the concept of past and future
tenses, particularly narratives; in others, mostly in the prophets, when I
try to play with switching verbs form past to future or infinitive and step
back to get the feel of it, it looks like "anything goes", as long as you
don't use the same conjugation repetitively (which would indicate emphasis.)
The perfect/imperfect concept doesn't help me at all and I feel is foreign
to BH. Can someone summarize for me the concept of "aspects" or refer me to
an online source? I don't understand this concept - maybe that's where the
money is -  Noam Eitan, Brooklyn, NY

  George Athas <gathas AT hotkey.net.au> wrote:
  Hi Chris!

  As you've picked up, the WAW CONSECUTIVE is a very prickly subject in
Biblical Hebrew. The problems do not all come down to the WAW CONSECUTIVE,
though -- there are other peripheral issues involved.

  Essentially, let me outline the old school of thought, and then outline
some new currents.




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