Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>]

Hi Bryan,

The point is that there is a linguistic distinction between narrative 
and narration in BH (contra Dawson, Endo, Hatav): in narrative, 
wayyiqtol dominates; in narration, wayyiqtol never leads, with wayyiqtol 
sometimes, though sometimes not, continuing from qatal. We can dispute 
what to make of individual texts, whether to include "poetic narration", 
and what to make of "short narration", but we essentially agree on: a) a 
narrative vis-a-vis narration distinction; and b) qatal figures more 
prominently in direct speech.

Regards,
David Kummerow.


> 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
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