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  • From: "Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The mystery of vav-consequtive
  • Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 20:41:41 +0100

Dear list-members,

All scientific studies are, and must be based on axioms and fundamental assumptions. If one fundamental assumption of a study of Hebrew verbs is that Hebrew *has* four conjugtions, then one almost inevitably ends up with four conjugations. The answer is given before one starts!

I am aware of one exception, namely, Alexander Sperber (and perhaps Cook, who ends up with three conjugations). He started with the old assumptions, but his advantage was that he studied the Hebrew text (including old manuscripts) and not only scholarly opinions regarding the Hebrew text. On the basis of years of textual studies, he was able to show that the authors of Biblia Hebraica in many cases had changed the Hebrew text in order to conform with their grammatical views (we find the same in the apparatus of BHS regarding weyiqtols in "wrong" places etc.). He was also able to show that the uses of verbs in MT definitely contradicted both the tense-view and aspect-view of the finite verbs, and that there was no semantic difference between the YIQTOLs and the WAYYIQTOLs.

In addition to Cook and Smith, who give much insight into the issue, I recommend A. Sperber: "A Historical Grammar of Biblical Hebrew". 1966: E. J. Brill. Reading Sperber will help against circularity and traditional thinking.

Best regards

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo


----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Penner" <pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 7:54 PM
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] The mystery of vav-consequtive


I expect Rolf Furuli will comment on this thread.

John's dissertation is excellent, though I am still surprised that he
defends the aspectual model.
I will limit my contribution to the recommendation of Mark Smith's readable
and concise book,
The Origins and Development of the Waw-Consecutive. ISBN 1555406025




I'd simply like to point toward John A. Cook's 2002 Wisconsin-Madison
dissertation, written under (my former classmate) Cynthia Miller, "The
Biblical Hebrew Verbal System: A Grammaticalization
Approach." It's out or






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