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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Use and Misuse of Waw in Verb Tenses

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: "C. Stirling Bartholomew" <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Use and Misuse of Waw in Verb Tenses
  • Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 23:52:34 +0100

On 17/09/2004 22:53, C. Stirling Bartholomew wrote:

On 9/17/04 6:34 AM, "Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no> wrote:


Because my model turns completely upside down the almost universally
accepted grammatical ideas of modern hebraists ...


On 9/17/04 6:46 AM, "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org> wrote:


I am aware that one of your main points
is that semantic meaning is uncancellable (and this is what I mainly
object to)...


I find some room for agreement with both Peter and Rolf.
The proposition: "semantic meaning is uncancellable" turns completely upside
down the almost universally accepted ideas about semantics.

However, if Rolf is drawing a distinction between the meaning attached to
the code (morphology, etc) and the inferential meaning provided by the
cognitive framework of the audience then this seems like an idea worth
exploring.
I have been approaching the position* (without actually arriving there) that
the code is semantically vacuous. ...


Clay, I tend to agree with you. I am reminded of the lecturer in semantics who claimed that in some languages two negatives make a positive, and in some two negatives make a negative, but there are no languages in which two positives make a negative. To which a student replied "Yeah, right".

Unfortunately I have to explain the joke to those for whom English is not their first language. "Yeah" (a form of "Yes") and "right" are both positive words indicating affirmation. If they have any semantic meaning at all, it is entirely positive and affirmative. But the two words taken together, and spoken in a particular tone of voice within certain contexts, clearly mean "I think you are wrong". In other words, the positive semantics of the two words are entirely cancelled by the context and way in which they are spoken. Or you could define that these words don't have positive meaning, only positive pragmatics, but if "Yes" doesn't have clear semantics, do any words at all?

Another way in which the semantic(?) meaning of almost any word or sentence can be cancelled is by changing it to a question intonation, or adding a question mark. If "Yes!" is uncancellably positive, how can "Yes?" be an expression of uncertainty? But it is.

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






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