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  • From: Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] word order
  • Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 06:46:21 -0700

On Tuesday 29 November 2005 20:08, David Kummerow wrote:
> > On Tuesday 29 November 2005 04:49, you wrote:
> > > On 25/11/2005 01:05, Dave Washburn wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > >
> > > >I'm one of them. I find it amusing that anyone uses a statistical
> > > > argument for a base order of VSO, because the statistics are heavily
> > > > skewed by the frequency of the wayyiqtol, which just about everyone
> > > > agrees is a converted (i.e. secondary, not basal) form. ...
> > >
> > > I'm not one of them. And I would have thought "just about everyone" is
> > > an exaggeration. An alternative view which I thought was quite widely
> > > accepted is that WAYYIQTOL is in fact a more original and ancient
> > > form, an old proto-Semitic verb form, to which is attached the vav
> > > marking the clause boundary. Because this form adheres to the original
> > > VSO word order and is not used in secondary constructions in which the
> > > verb has moved, the vav has become inseparable. - or perhaps jussives
> > > are WAYYIQTOLs without their vav. I don't claim that this is
> > > necessarily true, but I have seen no clear evidence that WAYYIQTOL is
> > > secondary, rather than primary and reflecting the original dominant
> > > Hebrew word
> >
> > order.
> > Can you give a reference or two, something published that sets forth this
> > view? I'll try to do the same for the description I gave.
>
> Eskhult (pg 25) says: "... the manner in which classical Hebrew
> narration lets every single act be featured by its own finite verb,
> clearly precipitates the use of narrative chains, where a connective
> element, as wa-, is indispendible."
>
> Eskhult, Mats. Studies in Verbal Aspect and Narrative Technique in
> Biblical Hebrew Prose. Studia Semetica Upsaliensia 12. Stockholm:
> Almqvist & Wiksell, 1990.
>
> DeCaen takes the view that wayyiqtol is modal coordination, ie jussives
> are wayyiqtol minus way-.
>
> DeCaen, Vincent. "On the Placement and Interpretation of the Verb in
> Standard Biblical Hebrew Prose." PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1995.

I'm not sure I see how these relate to the question of SVO vs VSO base word
order.

--
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Maybe I'll trade it for a new hat."




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