The Semantic Potential of Verbal Conjugations as a Set of Polysemous Senses: The Qatal in Genesis

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that by using the anterior path as a template, it is possible to order and elucidate a dominant portion of the semantic domain of the Biblical Hebrew qatal form (i.e., the perfect, perfective, and past senses) as consecutive developmental stages of the anterior path. It is also argued that the perfect values of the qatal should not be explained as a type of aspect or tense. They belong to an independent category referred to as “taxis.” By employing the definition of prototypicality in terms of frequency, the authors conclude that in the light of statistical analysis, the domain of taxis constitutes the most prototypical part of the semantic potential of the qatal in Genesis (55.7%). The recognition of the category of perfect as an independent stage on the diachronic cline and acknowledgment of its weight in the meaning of the qatal likewise makes it possible to explain a number of the other senses of the qatal .

The Complexity of Verbal Semantics—An Intricate Relationship Between Qatal and Wayyiqtol

“…22 Apart from semantic values, the database distinguishes types of text (discourse, narrative, narrative discourse and narrative comment), morpho-syntactic variants of a given gram (for instance, 0-qatal or x-qatal and 0-yiqtol and x-yiqtol), and syntactic environments (for instance, in the case of the x-qatal, this x is specified as ‫ֹא‬ ‫,ל‬ ‫ר‬ ‫שֶׁ‬ ‫,אֲ‬ ‫לוּ‬ , subject, object, etc.). For a more detailed description of the procedure of compilation of the database see Andrason and Van der Merwe (2015). 23 The descriptions of semantic domains in footnote 23-28 draws from several of my previous papers (Andrason 2012a;2012c; as well as Andrason and van der Merwe 2015).…”

“…For a more detailed description of the procedure of compilation of the database see Andrason and Van der Merwe (2015). 23 The descriptions of semantic domains in footnote 23-28 draws from several of my previous papers (Andrason 2012a;2012c; as well as Andrason and van der Merwe 2015). The category of a perfect is a complex group of even more specific senses, such as inclusive (an action or state holds without interruption from a determined point in the past to the present moment: I have known Max since 1960;Jónsson 1992: 129-45), resultative (dynamic events have occurred and since then the results remain unchanged for the present state of affairs: I cannot come to your party-I have caught the flu; McCawley 1971), experiential (the subject has an experience of having performed a given action: I have read "Principia Mathematica" ;Jónsson 1992: 129-45), frequentative (the current or recent repetition of activities is focused; for example in the Portuguese perfect Ultimamente o João tem lido muitos romances "Recently John has read many novels"; Squartini and Bertinetto 2000: 409) and, according to some anal-indefinite perfect 24 (1.b), pluperfect (1.c) and future perfect (1.d), has the biggest weight in the semantic potential of qatal.…”

“…All the evidence can be tabulated in the following manner:2 9 F 30 29 This is the only example in the book of Genesis that could possibly be interpreted as expressing the sense of universal truth even though it is not fully canonical. 30 For an extensive discussion and interpretation of the data concerning qatal, see Andrason and van der Merwe (2015). The global frequencies of the senses can be presented more graphically.…”

“…In this study, this more holistic analysis has only reached the level of a stream. For a more global perspective of the BH verbal system and the manner of modeling an entire verbal system, see Andrason (2015) and (2016) respectively. 75 The distinction between the etic perspective (language is treated as a physical, objective, objectively accessible, autonomous system and as an acting agent for which humans are the medium of propagation) and the emic perspective (speakers are the acting agents who by using their cognitive faculties can manipulate the language, giving it a more psychological and subjective status) is highly relevant.…”

Grammatical polysemy and grammaticalization in cognitive and generative perspectives: finding common ground in inter-generational corpora of ancient languages

“…Alternatively, Andrason (2011Andrason ( , 2012Andrason ( , 2013 takes the cognitive perspective sketched above which sees polysemy as a fundamental part of language due to its usage-based emergent properties at the idiolect level (cf. Andrason and Van der Merwe 2015). Setting aside for the moment these deeper theoretical disagreements, for the reasons outlined above, both models are compatible with the recognition of genuine polysemy 16 I am using the term 'lect' following Geeraerts and Kristensen (2015: 366) as refering to "dialects, regiolects, national varieties, registers, styles, idiolects etc.)."…”