Hebrew - Word order

2012-3-15 21:54

Biblical Hebrew, Word order

Appendix: Brief Hebrew Syntax According to IBHS¹

Contents

I. Clauses

A. Word Order

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Word Order [IBHS 8.3b]

(1) verbal class [8.3b]; VSO, Verb Subj Obj;

verb subject (VS): no introductory, waw-relative (consecutive), with adverbial

waw-disjunctive, waw noun verb

waw-adversative (in contrast), of waw-disjunctive

Syntax of the Verbal Clause [Seow² 13.4]

a. normal word order (NWO) [.a]

Circumstance + Verb + Subject + Indirect Object + Direct Object

IO ususally led by preposition l] or -la,

b. disrupted word order (DWO) in the prose [.b]

i. a new subject

ii. in parenthetical comments starting with waw

iii. for emphasis

iv. sharp contrast

(2) verbless (or nominal) class [8.4]: (a substantive (N) and another expression except a verb)

[.a] to identify subject: definite subject + definite predicate

to classify subject: indefinite predicate + definite subject; S-P-IPP [16.3.3d; 8.4.2b]

rarely, P-S, or P-pronoun-S [16.3.3d, p299]

less predictable: predicate with suffix; subordinate or precative clause

[.1a] subject-predicate (SP): identification, inteerogative, declaration [.a]

S-pleo-Pred (pleo = pleonastic or dummy pronoun; copula [16.3.3a]), or

Foc-S-pred (“as for Focus, ...” [16.3.3b]; unique subject/focus [16.3.3c])

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A. Bibliography

BDB: Brown, Francis. The New Brown - Driver - Briggs - Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. 1979

IBHS: O’Connor, M.; Bruce K. Waltke. An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990

Seow: Seow, Choon Leong. A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1995 rev

B. The Grammar of the Word Order

1. NWO: Normal Word Order [Seow 13.4a]

Circumstance(sequent) - Verb - Subject - Indirect Object - Direct Object

2. DWO: Disrupted Word Order [Seow 13.4b]

i. a new subject

ii. in parenthetical comments starting with Waw

iii. for emphasis

iv. sharp contrast

3. VBL: Verbless clause [IBHS 8.4a]

(S: Subject; P: Predicate; V:Verb; Adv: Adverb; Dat: Dative; Nom Abs: Nominative Absolute)

i. to identify the subject (S-P): definite Subject - definite Predicate

ii. - to classify the subject (P-S): indefinite Predicate - definite Subject - Pleonastic IPP [8.4.2b]

iii. - (non-)existence (P-S): vyE / @yaE / hy;h; - nominative Subject [10.3.2b]

iv. negation³ by adverb @ya (S-P): @ya - Subject - Predicate, (Subject - @ya - Predicate) [39.3.3b]

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Hebrew Syntax

according to Seow’s “A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew” 1995

p59, the verbless clause, [H] Proper-Noun B + Noun A => [E] A is B

p149, Verbal Clause

NWO : Normal Word Order in prose

circumstance + verb + subject + indirect object + direct Object

DWO: Disrupted Word Order

new subjective; a redundant independent personal (IPP) (in parenthetical comments); for emphasis; contrast

Agreement of subject

in gender, number, person (GNP)

collective nouns + singular/plural verb;

nouns of plural form but singular meaning + singular verb;

a noun list + plural/singualr verb

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1 O’Connor, M.; Bruce K. Waltke. An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990

2 Seow, Choon Leong. A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1995 rev.

3 B.1.iv) In a different view of negation in verbless clause @ya and vye can serve as the negative and positive substantive of hyh [BDB p34: @ya 2.c, 5; p441: vye2.a; p226: hyh III.1 ] , and they function as hyh does as “to come to pass” followed by a clause [BDB p224: hyh I.2 ]. The subject in the pattern “Subject @yaPredicate” is a nominative absolute in a verbless clause. Furthermore, the verbless clause is an incomplete clause without any finite verb (even without either subject or predicate), but it has as an emphatic or explanatory function upon a certain aspect (usually the subject or action) of an even. According to Seow 10.4, @ya functions as the particle of non-existence in the first position of a clause, and the particle of absence in the second position. This classification is better because the meaning of non-existence is closer to absence than negation even though @ya rarely appears in the second position when it serves as the particle of non-existence .