Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

On one thing you are absolutely right Vadim. Many of us have our perceptions
shaped by the languages we are familiar with. Unfortunately, the only cure
for this seems to be to keep learning every language in the world so that
our perceptions can be widened. Believe it or not I have found that just
about every language I have had contact with has helped me understand the
biblical languages clearer in some way.

If you wish to seriously take this further I would start by tracing the
history of the changes in the Slavonic languages and seeing if you have any
firm basis for linking the relevant ones to the Jewish group that was strong
in the area that you mentioned. However, I also suspect that the language of
the Orthodox church had a strong influence on the shaping of the Slavonic
languages.

James Christian

2010/2/18 Vadim Cherny <vadimcherny AT gmail.com>

> Petr Tomasek: How would this explain that wayyiqtol is used in most
> cases
> as the main form used in a narration?
>
> Vadim Cherny: This is just a linguistic convention. It is similar in
> Russian narrations. You just find it strange because it does not
> happen in your language.
>
> Petr Tomasek: How would you explain for example w-pf used in
> conditional clauses where BOTH, the protasis and the apodosis are are
> beginning with this form?
>
> Vadim Cherny: What is odd about this one? In conditional clause, both
> parts are in future tense. I fail to see any oddity with that. In
> English, "If you do (present tense) this, then that will happen (FT)",
> but in Russian both parts in are in the future tense.
>
> Randall Buth: the "Russian theory" doesn't explain open-ended pasts
> like Gn 29:2-10, where yashqu and ve-hishqu refer to past habituals.
>
> Vadim Cherny: This is really fascinating, how linguistic mentality
> shapes perception. To me, who thinks in Russian, yashqu is future
> tense, plain and simple, approximated by English "For out of that well
> they would water the flocks."
> Look at the deictic center shift: the narrator stays with Jacob. For
> him, the watering is a present affair and will continue into the future.
> After the narrator shifted his deictic center, there is a stream of
> wayyiqtols in the next verse. Now all the events are future for him as
> he is immersed in them along with Jacob.
>
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