Biblical Hebrew Forum

["C. Stirling Bartholomew" <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

Judg. 6:8 wy$lx yhwh )y$ nby) )l-bny y&r)l wy)mr lhM kh-)mr yhwh )lhy y&r)l
)nky h(lyty )tkM mmcryM w)cy) )tkM mbyt (bdyM

The "clause"  ... )nky h(lyty )tkM mmcryM ... looks exceedingly innocent to
the untrained eye, an explicit pronominal subject before a finite verb.
However, while working my way once again through "Fronting"  R.Holmstedt*, I
came across a discussion of Judg. 6:8 in another place**.

What can we say about  )nky ? Well using a somewhat lazy definition of
"focus" I would suggest that  )nky points the reader to what is important
about the following clause. What is important is who did it. The preverbal
pronoun focuses the readers attention on the _who_ not the _what_. Without
this pronoun, the _what_ would fall into the new information slot. With the
preverbal pronoun, the new information slot moves.


greetings,
Clay Bartholomew 
 
*The Syntax and Pragmatics of ³Fronting² in Biblical Hebrew1
Robert D. Holmstedt University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(Draft 1/03)
http://www.uwm.edu/%7Erdholmst/FrontingSBLMW2000.pdf

*MARKED SYNTACTICAL STRUCTURES IN BIBLICAL GREEK
IN COMPARISON WITH BIBLICAL HEBREW
A. Niccacci, 1993