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  • From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
  • To: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • Cc: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] to rolf
  • Date: Sun, 26 May 2013 15:25:26 -0700

George:

On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 1:33 AM, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:
Hi Karl!

No the Yiqtol and Qatal don't have the same functions.

I agree, so far, …
 
There are key differences. In prose, the Qatal verb doesn't have the same indefiniteness as the Yiqtol. The Qatal presents action as definite (ie. concrete, specific, close up).

Yiqtol: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Qatal: A gentle answer turned away wrath, but a harsh word stirred up anger.

The yiqtol is indefinite, and could apply to past, present, or future. In this case, it's gnomic present. But the Qatal would be speaking about a specific occasion when a gentle answer happened to turn away wrath and a harsh word stirred up anger. It's the difference between indefinite and definite.

Sorry, but that’s not the observed difference in function.

Poetry, with its parallelism, shows that Qatal and Yiqtol are used for the same amounts of definitiveness. Exactly the same. The Qatal is indefinite, can apply to past, present, or future. It can apply to both perfective and imperfective aspects. However, Qatal applies to only indicative and optative moods (as far as I can tell at the moment). Yiqtol can apply to indicative, optative moods just like Qatal, but it can also apply to subjunctive, imperative, expectation, intent moods among others. Is the fact that the Yi


GEORGE ATHAS
Dean of Research,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia






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