Cc: jljustiss AT msn.com, randallbuth AT gmail.com
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] BH verbal system
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 10:37:26 +0200
The discussion of Hebrew verbal system stems from basic
misunderstanding of deictic center shifts. They are not prominent in
Roman-German languages, and so the scholars brought up in those
languages cannot easily understand the Hebrew system.
The Hebrew verbal system is, however, closely paralleled in Russian.
I have argued for years, and my point of view apparently gains some
following, that Hebrew has a standard past-future tense system - but
with massive use of deictic center shifts. Such shifts only occur in
narrations, as is the case with recitals in Russian.
The narrator transposes himself into the narrated time, and the events
which are past for the reader remain future for the narrator.
Similarly, in prophecies the narrator transposes himself into the
future events, and some of them become past for him.
Interestingly, Russian uses exactly the same construction for deictic
center shifts: "And + FT", just like"waw + yiqtol" in Hebrew.
As for weqatal, it is about highly assured events. Again, the
construction of "Exclamation + PT" is common in Russian for very
strong commands (ну, сделал, быстро!). Unsurprisingly,
weqatal generally appears in commandments which, though referring to
future events, are treated as done.
Weqatal is also used in prophetic narrations to speak about the events
which had become past for the narrator.
This can be approximated in English:
catav - wrote
yictov - will write
wayictov - and [on that day] he would write. "And + Future tense".
weqatal - Shoot him! Now! Done! (instead of "do it!"). "I want to see
you having shot him!" Or, "treat is as a done deal" refers to future
with past. "And + Past Tense".