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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Species" of the Genitive Waltke/O'Connor
  • Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 21:17:38 -0500

Dear Clay,

RT is very much talking about semantics but in the cognitive approach the
relationship between the code (marked form) and the semantic realization
triggered by that code is completely different from what you will find in
traditional grammars (Hebrew or Greek). To cognitive approach views semantic
realizations as states within the cognitive framework of the
reader/listener. The marked form itself doesn't contribute much to the
process. The semantic realization is highly nondeterministic, therefore
defining categories for semantic sepcies of genitives makes about as much
sense as categorizing stones in Israel based on whom the stone is throne at.
This is a Jewish stone. This stone is for Americans. This is a Catholic
stone. This is a stone for Randall Buth and his friends :-))).

HH: Having thought about your original post for a while and now reading this, i have decided that I don't agree with you in terms of instruction, which is a major purpose for grammars. I think a display of the types of genitive construction that the Hebrew allows is quite helpful and possibly even necessary. Dallas Theological Seminary had very beneficial handouts giving examples of what the nominative, genitive, and accusative could do, and sometimes the examples can open a door of interpretation that otherwise might be shut to the student. It is good to have the handouts even now, simply to remember all the interpretive possibilities. They might exist in Hebrew while not coming to the mind of the English reader. So guidance from more experienced students of the language (teachers, grammars) is definitely a plus.

HH: You may be saying that such categories do not, strictly speaking, have objective reality; there is no particular marker for them, perhaps, beyond the complexities of context. I'm aware of that, but it is still the case that there are repeated ways in which the genitive, accusative, and nominative are used in Hebrew that it is good for one to know. That is what the "species of genitive" really signifies. Now the number of categories derived, and their particular nature, can vary in validity, but I would not want to leave the student without an acquaintance with such nuanced delineations of usage.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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