The "guessing" qatal. The Biblical Hebrew suffix conjugation as a manifestation of the evidentiary trajectory

This paper aims at demonstrating that the Biblical Hebrew (BH) qatal may provide inferential nuances compatible with the evidential semantic domain. First, the reader is familiarized with the general notions concerning resultative and evidential expressions viewed from the panchronic perspective: in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Andrason, Alexander W. (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Verificar disponibilidad: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Publicado: 2010
En: Journal for semitics
Año: 2010, Volumen: 19, Número: 2, Páginas: 612-636
Otras palabras clave:B University of Stellenbosch
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Descripción
Sumario:This paper aims at demonstrating that the Biblical Hebrew (BH) qatal may provide inferential nuances compatible with the evidential semantic domain. First, the reader is familiarized with the general notions concerning resultative and evidential expressions viewed from the panchronic perspective: in particular, their grammatical and functional development (three prototypical evolutionary scenarios labeled ''anterior, simultaneous and evidential paths'') is discussed. Next, employing the panchronic methodology, the author hypothesizes that being recently defined as a prototypical resultative diachrony, the BH suffix conjugation should provide uses which - besides corresponding to the anterior and simultaneous paths - would also reflect the third evolutionary track commonly followed by resultative constructions, i.e., the evidential trajectory, and in particular, that it would offer inferential readings. Afterward, he verifies the hypothesis, analyzing various examples where the qatal seems to display evidential force. This analysis indicates that the formation may provide inferential value corresponding to the category of a guessing perfect: a previously performed action is not witnessed by the enunciator himself but is assumed to have happened because of the available physical or generally assumed evidence and because of the application of human deduction mechanisms. Finally, the author demonstrates that languages which possess more regular overt evidential categories (Turkish and Icelandic) frequently employ them in order to translate specific examples where the qatal has inferential force. All of this demonstrates that the semantic potential of the BH suffix conjugation is compatible with the evidential - in particular inferential - domain which in turn positively verifies the panchronically posited hypothesis.
Obras secundarias:Enthalten in: Journal for semitics
Persistent identifiers:HDL: 10520/EJC101154