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  • From: David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Verbal Aspect (was Tenses - Deut 6:4)
  • Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:50:52 +1100

Hi Karl,

I agree with you in real language there is largely a correlation between aspect and tense as you say.

But, regarding BH, what do you do with the examples of the "incomplete aspect" used for "complete action" and the "complete aspect" used for "incomplete action"?

Regards,
David.


Dear Rolf, Peter, David, et al.:

I have been lurking on this thread, now to add my 2ยข.

While I agree with Rolf that there is no evidence of
grammaticalization of tense in Biblical Hebrew, there is yet a
psychological component to aspect, by which the narrator will tend to
use the complete aspect to refer to the past, and the incomplete or
completing aspect for the future. The major exception is where the
completing aspect is used to complete (carry forward) a narration
referring to the past. The complete aspect can be used for a future
event, where the expectation is that the event will happen once and
once only, otherwise the narrator will psychologically prefer to use
the incomplete aspect as the event has at that time not yet been
completed.

While psychological preferences are not in themselves
grammaticalization, they can give the appearance of such, hence
David's claim.

Strict grammar is one thing, but when analyzing written texts, we
should not ignore the psychological element also involved with
language use.

Karl W. Randolph.






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