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Re: [b-hebrew] Tense and aspect; was: "The use of "

From: "Stoney Breyer" <stoneyb AT touchwoodcreative.com>
To: "'Rolf Furuli'" <furuli AT online.no>, <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Tense and aspect; was: "The use of "
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:15:13 -0500

Rolf :

'It is important to distinguish between tense and time/temporal reference.
All languages have different means to signal whether an action is past,
present, or future. But first when the temporal reference is an intrinsic
part of a verb form, can we say that a language has tense. Therefore, tense
is defined as "grammaticalized location in time".'

This seems to be unnecessarily restrictive. Isn't simpler and more
productive to treat 'tense' as a component of the utterance, a component
which may be realized either grammatically or lexically or, redundantly,
both or even (as often in English, and I am beginning to suspect in
Hebrew) left unmarked?

Stoney Breyer
Writer*
Touchwood Creative | www.touchwoodcreative.com
3200 Locust Street, St. Louis, MO. 63103
tel: 314-421-9878 x103 | fax: 314-421-6276
stoneyb AT touchwoodcreative.com
*ein Mann ... dem das Schreiben schwerer fällt als allen anderen Leuten.
-Thomas Mann

Re: [b-hebrew] The use of the Yiqtol in Isaiah 1:21 , (continued)