Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Rolf Furuli" <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear Vadim,

Honestly speaking, Vadim, I have no idea of what you mean. In order to be
understood you have to define all the concepts you use carefully, and in a
detailed way show how these concepts relates to each of the Hebrew
conjugations, be they two or four. For example, my first impression of your
words "deictic center shift" is that this means "relative tense" (as defined
by Comrie this meansadeictic center different from speech time). However, M. 
Broman Olsen has argued that in the English
language, this "deictic shift" or "relative tense" should be interpreted as
an aspectual property. Therefore, detailed definitions are mandatory.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Verbal Aspect


> I wonder, could anyone voice any argument against my simple hypothesis of
> Hebrew tenses:
>
> Deictic center shift was the original meaning of prefix waw, and tense
> reversal is derivative sense. "And he would say" (wayiqtol) about past
> events and "and he said" (weqatal) by a prophet who relates his vision -
> evolved into "he said" and "he will say," respectively.
>
> Some wayiqtols relate future events, "and + future tense verb" without
> deictic center shift.
>
>
>
> In other words, wayiqtol is "and yiqtol." Narrator is immersed into the
> past
> events, his deictic center shifts, and he employs future tense about the
> events, long past for his readers but still in the future from his deictic
> point.
>
> English is not very flexible about deicti center shifts, but, for example,
> Russian employs deictic shifts a lot in recitals.
>
>
>
> My explanation is the simplest, logical, and fully consistent with
> observed
> facts.
>
>
>
> Vadim Cherny
>
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew