The verbal tense system in late Biblical Hebrew prose
By: by Ohad Cohen ; translated by Avi Aronsky
Series: Harvard Semitic studies -- 63; Harvard Semitic studies -- no. 63.
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Winona Lake, Indiana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9781575069432
Copyright date: 2013
Subjects: Bible; Hebreiska språket; Frühjudentum; Prosa; Hebrew language; Tenses (linguistics); Tempus; Hebräisch; 18.76 old Hebrew language and/or literature; Tense; Verb; Language, style; Biblical Hebrew; Bibeln; Verbs
Work titles: Maʻarekhet ha-zemanim shel ha-poʻal ba-ʻIvrit ha-miḳraʼit ha-meʼuḥeret
Description: This study offers a synchronic and diachronic account of the Biblical Hebrew verbal tense system during the Second Temple period, based on the books of Esther, Daniel, and Ezra and Nehemiah, along with the non-synoptic parts of Chronicles. In analyzing the development of this system, Cohen discerns the changes that mark the transition from the classical era to the Second Temple period.The book is divided into two main parts: a survey of previous research along with the methodology of the present study; and a descriptive analysis of the verbal system in late biblical prose literature. In the first section, the author discusses the eclectic nature of the biblical corpus, including the ramifications of this heterogeneity on linguistic efforts to formulate a synchronic structural account of its texts. Moreover, he surveys the principal linguistic concepts of tense, aspect, and mood, and the verbal paradigm's complex nature. The second part of the book offers a synchronic account of the Second Temple period verbal system. It features a categorical breakdown and analysis of all the verb forms in the corpus's prose texts. The author examines the reasons behind these changes by dint of a diachronic comparison with other strata of the Hebrew language--namely, biblical texts of the First Temple period, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the language of the Sages.
Notes: Revised and expanded version of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim, 2008.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-289) and index.

Translated from the Hebrew.
Table of contents: title: The research methodology of the biblical verb system; title: The verbal tense system in the biblical Hebrew of the second temple period; title: The indicative system; title: The modal system; title: The volitive forms; title: The infinitive absolute; title: the unmarked consecutive form.