Bob,
In my opinion the purpose of the dagesh is to indicate that the "waw
conversive" is not part of the verb but only an addendum to it. This
VA is a variant of the substantive BA, English 'be'. Following the
waw comes a personal pronoun standing for the actor. For instance (I
am using the example on page 197 of the paper, Ex. 19:3), VA-YI-KRA,
in which YI = HI is God. Thus, VA-YI-KRA = BA-HI-KRA.
Isaac Fried, Boston University
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