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" On the placement and interpretation of the verb in Standard Biblical Hebrew prose "
V. J. J. DeCaen
E. J. C. Revell, E. A.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1112991
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| Doc. No
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TLpq304253036
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| Main Entry
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E. J. C. Revell, E. A.
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V. J. J. DeCaen
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| Title & Author
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On the placement and interpretation of the verb in Standard Biblical Hebrew prose\ V. J. J. DeCaenE. J. C. Revell, E. A.
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| College
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University of Toronto (Canada)
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| Date
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1995
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| student score
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1995
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Page No
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363
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| Abstract
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This thesis examines the so-called "enigma" of the "tenseless" Biblical Hebrew verbal system as a problem in generative grammar, specifically in the articulation of a theory of tense and aspect for Universal Grammar. The model integrates phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics; and points back to the pre-modern tense solution revived by Revell (1989) and Gropp (1991). The complexity arising under traditional morphocentric approaches derives from the constrained interaction of several subsystems, commensurate with Peckham (1994). The corpus for the study is Samuel-Kings, a relatively homogeneous block of Standard Biblical Hebrew prose. The work is divided into three parts. The introductory section outlines the problem of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system and introduces the notions of universal grammar and the semantics-pragmatics distinction. Three key concepts are introduced: aspectual default, compositional tense-aspect and implicature. Transcription and notation are treated in an appendix. The second portion lays the groundwork for the formal proposal. Two chapters sketch a generative model of verbal morphophonology and morphosyntax, and the third runs through the problems of an aspectual analysis of Standard Biblical Hebrew. The proposed scheme has a three term inflectional system, employing extensive verb movement in a verb second system. Part three outlines the proposal for the verbal system. The first chapter presents the generative tense-aspect framework. The description of the verbal system is split up into two chapters: the core tense-aspect system, and the additional constructions involving movement to lexicalize usd\lbrack\pmusdirrealisusd\rbrackusd. Tense neutralization (or the "consecutive" phenomenon) is analyzed as involving a complex interaction between tense, mood and pragmatico-discourse factors. The conclusion is that Biblical Hebrew is a typical tense-aspect system, defaulting for the perfective aspect. Formally, the system is comparable to English and of course Mishnaic-Modern Hebrew; the closest match in terms of overall behaviour is that of Japanese. Standard Biblical Hebrew differs from later forms of Hebrew in having "preterite-presents" in the lexicon, in exhibiting tense neutralization, and in allowing a greater freedom in deictic shifting.
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Ancient languages
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Bible
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Bible
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Hebrew
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Language, literature and linguistics
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Philosophy, religion and theology
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