Wayyiqol as an Unlikely Preterite
Biblical Hebrew wayyiqol is usually assumed to have derived from Proto-Northwest Semitic *yaqul, a preterite. Parallel diachronic developments in neo-Aramaic and other languages, however, suggest that wayyiqol may not be a preterite but a narrative present, the short member of a short/long pair in w...
| Published in: | Journal of Semitic studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2013]
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| In: |
Journal of Semitic studies
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Biblical Hebrew wayyiqol is usually assumed to have derived from Proto-Northwest Semitic *yaqul, a preterite. Parallel diachronic developments in neo-Aramaic and other languages, however, suggest that wayyiqol may not be a preterite but a narrative present, the short member of a short/long pair in which the long form has been grammaticalized for imperfectivity and the short form remains unmarked for aspect. As a narrative present, it cannot establish reference time. Semantic analysis confirms wayyiqol always continues the location in time set by the context. The motivation for its use is to express a kind of semantic dependence, or topic continuity. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-8556 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Semitic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgs036 |