The Verbal System of Biblical Aramaic: A Distributional Approach

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Institution Granting Degree

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Cedarville University School or Department

Biblical and Theological Studies

First Advisor

John H. Sailhamer

Keywords

Biblical studies, Biblical Aramaic, Aramaic

Abstract

The standard grammars for Biblical Aramaic treat the verb primarily in terms of tense and Aktionsart. The theory of H.B. Rosén, which is based on a distinction between point aspect verbs and linear aspect verbs, constitutes the one significant alternative to the standard view. The present article interacts with these two proposals and suggests a new approach — distributional analysis. Such analysis has been applied with great success in Hebrew studies, but not in research on the verb in Biblical Aramaic. The thesis here is that Biblical Aramaic has a primary verbal form for narrative (qetal) and a primary verbal form for discourse (yiqtul).

Author Type

Faculty

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