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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] tenses

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  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: "Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] tenses
  • Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:22:19 +0300

Thank you, Rolf.
That variety doesn't sound like conforming to the aspect hypothesis, does it? If anything, future tense dominates.
Much of the present tense could be translated future in Russian and so, possibly be understood as future by Hebrews.
Add some deictic shifts for the past (5% deictic shifts in emphatic narration sound plausible).
Jussive is idiomatic of future (though I agree with Peter that jussive was a separate tense originally, I think that yiqtol-form future originated from jussive or imperative).
Other modals, many of them are idiomatic future.
Overall, figures do not contradict the tense hypothesis.

Vadim Cherny


In his work "The Enigma of the Hebrew Verbal System" (1982), Leslie McFall presents the results of his study of how Hebrew verbs are translated by the Revised Standard Version. Regarding YIQTOL he has the following numbers (p. 187):

Past: 774
Present 3,376
Future: 5,451
Non-present Modal: 1,200
Past modal: 423
Imperative: 2,133
Jussive/Cohortative: 789
Non-verbal: 153.





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