Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

Hi David,

I thank you for indulging me for I am not as current in my reading as I 
once was or ought to be.

The reason I asked about strings of qatals is because I doubt that qatal 
is used, except in an exceptional case, to advance story time.   In 
contrast to an exceptional case here and there, a string would 
represent, of course, something more than an exception, and lots of 
strings...well, you get the idea.  As you know the usefulness of a form 
for advancing story time  is germane to the discussion of BH verbal 
semantics.

I'll explain why I still find the below examples of strings unconvincing.

David Kummerow wrote:
> Gday Bryan,
>
> Yes, I did say that qatals in narration are dominantly used to narrate. 
> Here's a few examples pulled from Anstey's dissertation: 1 Sam 4:17 (I 
> see we disagree on this verse); Jer 12:1-13; Josh 2:9-12.
>
>   
You have already heard my thoughts on 1 Sam 4:17. 

Do we consider Jeremiah "first Temple" corpus?  Besides, the Jer text is 
poetry.  Doesn't count. 

In the Josh text I tally 8/10 qatals in dependent clauses.  Again, they 
don't count.  The only qatal in the text that counts as a part of a 
story is the first one in v. 9 yada`ti.  But we already knew that 
narration in direct speech usually opens with a clause-initial qatal.  
Actually, Rahab's little story in Josh 2 is advanced by the only two 
wayyiqtols in the text, vannishma` and vayyimmas in v. 11.

> He also helpfully tabulates the results of Heller's 2004 work on Gen 37, 
> 39-47, 2 Sam 9-20; 1 Kgs 1-2, the results of which, for the two verb 
> forms referring to past actions, are:
>
> qatal: narrative = 137 times; narration 153 times.
> wayyiqtol: narrative = 1,103 times; narration 96 times.
>
>   
The qatals in narration are probably almost all of two kinds.  They may 
be little one or two-clause utterances that cannot really be considered 
stories.  (Can an utterance of only one main clause be a story?)  Or the 
qatals are in dependent clauses that do not advance story time. In other 
words, I doubt that either of Heller's qatals in narrative or narration 
are narrating.

I guess I have to get a hold of Matthew's dissertation.


Shalom,
Bryan
> Note that I prefer not to treat weqatal as the same as qatal, even 
> though I take it that they are the same verbal forms and not different. 
> weqatal is used in cosubordinate clauses to carry the tense, aspect, 
> mood, or illocutionary force of the preceding verb. Useful reading on 
> this for BH is Winther-Nielsen 1995: 53-62, 270-277; Dallaire 2002; 
> Diehl 2004; Baayen 1997; Talstra 1997 and Cristofaro 2003 for the 
> typological background.
>
> Baayen, R. Harald. 1997. “The Pragmatics of the ‘Tenses’ in Biblical 
> Hebrew.” Studies in Language 21: 245-285.
> Cristofaro, Sonia. 2003. Subordination. Oxford Studies in Typology and 
> Linguistic Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
> Dallaire, Hélène. 2002. “The Syntax of Volitives in Northwest Semitic 
> Prose.” PhD diss., Hebrew Union College.
> Diehl, Johannes F. 2004. Die Fortführung des Imperativs im Biblischen 
> Hebräisch. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 286. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.
> Heller, Roy L. 2004. Narrative Structure and Discourse Constellation: An 
> Analysis of Clause Function in Biblical Hebrew Prose. Harvard Semitic 
> Studies 55. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
> Talstra, Eep. 1997. “Tense, Mood, Aspect and Clause Connections in 
> Biblical Hebrew: A Textual Approach.” Journal of Northwest Semitic 
> Languages 23/2: 81-103.
> Winther-Nielsen, Nicolai. 1995. A Functional Discourse Grammar of 
> Joshua: A Computer-Assisted Rhetorical Structure Analysis. Coniectanea 
> Biblica Old Testament Series 40. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
>
> Regards,
> David Kummerow.
>
>
>   
> > > Shalom David,
> > >
> > > Thank you very much for your clear and well-documented treatment of 
> > > aspect in the recent thread!
> > >
> > > If I remember correctly, you said somewhere during the long thread 
> > > that strings of qatals are sometimes used to narrate a story (forgive 
> > > me if I do not quote you).  If I am wrong, and I would be happy to 
> > > drop the issue.  Otherwise  I confess that I am not familiar with this 
> > > type of string in a narrative.  I do realize that narratives in direct 
> > > speech often begin with a qatal, but I am under the impression that 
> > > they then continue with wayyiqtol.
> > >
> > > If I am remembering your statement correctly, can you point out a 
> > > couple of these strings in "first Temple" texts?
> > > I have found, for example, 1 Sam 4:17 a string of four qatals in 
> > > direct speech, but I don't think the speaker is telling a story.  I 
> > > think he is describing the state of affairs to Eli.  Describing a 
> > > state of affairs is essentially expository rather than narrative.  In 
> > > expository discourse I would expect to find noun sentences and X-qatal 
> > > sentences (which are a kind of noun sentence, I think).
> > >
> > > I see that David uses a string of qatals (or weqatals) in 1 Sam 
> > > 17:34-36.  Traditionally, the string is considered to be repetitive 
> > > action in the past for which weqatal is a conventional choice.  
> > > However, In my book, I suggest that David is indeed telling a story 
> > > (see _Learning BH_ pp. 345-347).  However, I suggest he is telling a 
> > > story in an unconventional way in a very special circumstance.  
> > > Essentially, he is telling a story using the conventions of expository 
> > > discourse in order to apply for a job.  He is basically giving Saul 
> > > his resume.  I am not ashamed for bringing such a literary 
> > > consideration into a linguistic discussion.
> > >
> > > Anyway, can you point out a string or two?  Thanks!
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Bryan
> > >       
>
>   
B.M. Rocine
Living Word Church
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