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  • From: "B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] David: strings of qatals
  • Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:21:51 -0500

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
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206
W: (315) 437-6744





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