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There are five graphically different groups of verbs in the MT: YIQTOL, WAYYIQTOL, WEYIQTOL, QATAL, AND QATAL. The Grammar tells us that there are four different groups semantically speaking: YIQTOL/WEYIQTOL, WAYYIQTOL, QATAL, and WEQATAL. ...
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As long as you start a study of the Hebrew verbal system *assuming* that there are four conjugations, you let The Grammar have priority, and you are very far from being a scientific revolutionary in the Kuhnian sense. ...
I see one way to proceed to refrain from giving The Grammar priority:
1. Start your study with the assumption that classical Hebrew has at least two different conjugations (a prefix-conjugation and a suffix-conjugation, which can be seen in the DSS), possibly three or four. (This approach alone frees you from the straitjacket of The Grammar.)
In principle this is a good approach. But it needs to be adopted with some care. For one thing, there is a need to avoid presupposing e.g. that WAYYIQTOL is semantically equivalent to WE- + YIQTOL. For another, the language must not be forced into the straitjacket of a theoretical model of semantics. Thus, for example, realism is required on the issue of uncancellability, because in the real world words are sometimes used in ways which appear to conflict with their semantic meaning. (See my discussion with Michael Millier - poetry does not always stand up to detailed analysis.) But we have been through this one before.
2. Study *all* the finite and infinite verbs of the Hebrew corpus (MT, DSS, Ben Sira, and the Inscriptions) on the basis of the relationship between event time, reference time, and the deictic center, and see how many different groups og finite verbs that emerge. (This does not necessarily make you a revolutionary, but it shows you are a good scientist.)
3. Study the material in order to find the *meaning* of the different verb forms, and not just their *functions*. (To ascribe just one or two functions to YIQTOL, WAYYIQTOL, QATAL, AND WEQATAL is completely impossible. Function can be a fine tool for teaching students the language, but cannot account for the Hebrew verbal system.)
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