Tense, aspect and Sprechhaltung in biblical Hebrew prose (original) (raw)

Verbal Tense System in Late Biblical Hebrew Prose. By Ohad Cohen

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2021

Can the Biblical Hebrew verbal system(s) ever truly be solved? Centuries of philological laborings have yielded many insights into the structures and significations of individual verbal components-and yet the actual, precise workings of the system as a whole remain elusive. The functional categories of tense, aspect, and mood compose the trifecta around which most studies variously place their linguistic bets. Traditionally, a winner-take-all approach has been invoked: for example, Biblical Hebrew verbal morphologies must primarily signify aspect, or else they must chiefly convey tense. Yet greater appreciation has developed for less rigid and more nuanced models that aim to account for the complexities of Biblical Hebrew as we actually have it, rather than as we ideally wish it to be. Ohad Cohen's monograph exhibits this kind of awareness throughout, as he endeavors methodically to describe and, where possible, to explain the forms and functions of Biblical Hebrew in its historically later permutations. The inclusion of "Tense" in the title of the book is somewhat confusing, potentially leading the reader to expect that the author intends to proffer a mainly temporal (as opposed to aspectual and/or modal) analysis of Biblical Hebrew verbs. Yet in his opening paragraph, Cohen avers that "use of the term 'tense,' which appears in the title of this work, is a mere formality and carries no significance regarding the actual meaning of the verbal system" (p. 1). Such a formality would thus have been better avoided, given the highly loaded nature of this term for the discussions at hand. Cohen states that he will apply a structuralist methodology to his project-predicated upon classic (neo)-Saussurean oppositions between diachrony versus synchrony, langue versus parole, and paradigm versus syntagm-and in this approach he is commendably consistent (p. 1). Critics who contend that structuralism is an overly rigid, unduly static, ultimately outmoded model for linguistics fail to grant due appreciation to its capacity for crafting productive descriptive analyses of language in terms of oppositions that can be predicated simultaneously upon multiple binarisms across numerous domains (cf. pp. 28-29). Indeed, structural opposition potentially even entails powerful explanatory capacities for language origins and usage, given the adaptive bilateral symmetric morphology of Homo sapiens that evolved in response to selective pressures within Hominin [sic] environments.

TAM in Sam: On the Tense-Aspect-Mood System in Classical Biblical Hebrew

unpublished

Often an object placed in one class on account of one or more of its properties may reappear in another class because of other properties. Jean d'Alembert, Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia 1 Some twenty-five years ago I published a modest proposal about the semantic axes of the verbal system in classical biblical Hebrew. 2 The model I proposed made sense to me then and still mostly does now, but I will add refinements to improve it. At the time I was attempting to synthesize the sturdy philology of Northwest Semitic historical linguistics with the categories of general linguistics, mostly gleaned from the crisp prose of the Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics (especially Bernard Comrie's books on tense and aspect). 3 I was dissatisfied with the treatment of tense and aspect in Bruce Waltke and Michael O'Connor's otherwise superb 1 J. d'Alembert, Discours préliminaire (1751): "Mais souvent tel objet qui par une ou plusieurs de ses propriétés a été placé dans une classe, tient à une autre classe par d'autres propriétés."

Narrative Tenses in Archaic Hebrew in the North-West Semitic Linguistic Context

The use of the narrative tense in the archaic language type in Biblical Hebrew is consistent with the situation attested in ancient North-West Semitic languages of the 2nd millennium BC. Three centres of linguistic diversity are established and the status of this isogloss is further elucidated. Part of the material gives priority to the old perfective preterit yqtlø as the main narrative tense; this usage is commonly interpreted as an archaic retention, but its status as an areal feature needs further investigation. Another part demonstrates the new perfective, perfect qtl, used on the main line of narrative; this usage exposes the main shared innovation that characterizes all the North West Semitic languages as part of Central Semitic. The third group of texts favours the imperfective yqtlu used as a historical present: this type unmistakably indicates an areal development, particularly the impact of a certain linguistic convention.

Some Thoughts on Hebrew Thought: With Special Reference to Tense-Aspect-Mood and the Verb

2018

The question of whether and to what degree individual languages dictate, influence, or reflect the specific perception and thought categories of their respective users has long intrigued readers of the Hebrew Bible. The issue has relevance for, inter alia, the intersection between reality and perception ostensibly revealed via the ancient Hebrew verbal system. Are the relative dearth and ambiguity of explicit tense-aspect-mood (TAM) morphological marking indicative of a characteristically Hebrew conception of reality, one with relatively few and vague TAM distinctions? Despite notable advances, modern scholarship cannot seem entirely to shake the effects of certain long-held, but problematic, assumptions. By way of example, doubts concerning the ancient Israelite notion of time still often seem to animate discussions of the Hebrew verbal system. Methodologically, treatments of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system have regularly been characterized by a reductionist tendency that seeks to derive all meaning from a single basic TAM category. However, the apparent fusing of TAM values in Biblical Hebrew verbal forms is a phenomenon known from many languages. If so, the traditional quest for a single overarching semantic verbal value may be misguided, likely to obscure rather than clarify matters. Both diachronically and synchronically, the Biblical Hebrew verbal forms are fruitfully conceived of as polyvalent markers comprising a combined TAM system, in which, to be sure, certain categories are conveyed more prominently than others. Another problem has been a narrow morphological focus. Since in Biblical Hebrew TAM signaling extends beyond verbal morphology, accounts of TAM expression must not be unduly influenced by the relative paucity and semantic ambiguity of the language’s verbal forms. On the nature of the correlation between language and perception, there is unquestionably much to be gained from investigations into ancient Hebrew TAM marking. Ironically, however, absent a radical reappraisal of the ways past methodological biases continue to inform—and even dictate—current conceptual frameworks and terminology, there is the danger of persisting with predetermined perceptions according to outdated assumptions and limiting innovation to variations on past approaches that have never been more than partially adequate.

The tense category of Biblical Hebrew verbs and ways of its translation

The study will explain and describe the tense category of verbs in Biblical Hebrew, a category whose existence is not confirmed by all Biblical scholars, yet its presence cannot be underestimated. Taking into account that Biblical Hebrew had only two tenses: past and future, the process of translation of these tenses is an interpretation, because it is not possible to apprehend the original notion of the inspired writers and exhibit it in contemporary languages. The research will be conducted on the Book of Psalms taken from the Hebrew Old Testament with Interlinear Latin published in 1609 in Antwerp. It is one of the oldest Hebrew Bibles available, therefore its Hebrew text is allegedly the most reliable. The purpose of the research will be to compare tense categories of Hebrew verbs to the ways in which they were presented and “interpreted” in four most common English translations of the Psalter based on the original Biblical language. What is more the research will try to find a solution to the problem of understanding the Biblical language and text.

The Archaic System of Verbal Tenses in “Archaic” Biblical Poetry

In this essay I focus on the indicative forms in two discourse modes: conversation and poetic narrative. In particular, I explore two phenomena characteristic of the archaic language type: (1) the use of the imperfective יקטל as the present progressive tense in conversation; (2) the extremely narrow semantic scope of the perfect tense קטל in poetic narrative.