268 2 Further exploration is needed of the connection of the temporal clauses
to the broader context 3 The role of
needs further analysis to evaluate the claim that it is a temporal modifier, providing the temporal value for the infinitive
construct It will be important to keep these issues in mind as the following sections move
through the different categories of ’s uses in temporal expressions.
9.2.2 Theoretical Background for the Analysis of Temporal
Expressions
The purpose of the following two sections is to discuss certain linguistic concepts that are foundational to the analysis implemented here. As stated above, the analysis in
this chapter is concerned with the context in which the temporal expression with occurs, making it necessary to pay attention to the shape of the clauses following the
expression with . The following concepts help navigate the analysis of these clauses.
9.2.2.1 Speaker Deixis
Speaker deixis refers to the complex systems of reference within speech and narrative that express the speaker or narrator’s spatial or temporal point of reference
relative to what is being spoken or narrated. The speaker has many deictic mechanisms and systems at his or her disposal for making spatial andor temporal reference. The
speaker and or narrator makes selections out of the set of possible expressions to best accomplish his or her narrative strategy.
One of the most basic concepts is that events in a narrative, by their very nature, make relative temporal reference to each other. In biblical Hebrew narrative, a series of
269
WAYYIQTOL
verbs, as stated in 6.4.1.1, depicts events as if they were a series of points along the same line.
Figure 22: Temporal Progression
Each
WAYYIQTOL
moves along the temporal dimension of the narrative, with each event
establishing a new Reference Time. Even though there are some examples of
REGRESSION
, as in discussed in 6.4.1.6, the normal pattern for
WAYYIQTOL
in narrative is that each successive event moves along in temporal
PROGRESSION
. It should be recognized that
REGRESSION
with
WAYYIQTOL
s is only used under peculiar narrative circumstances.
In terms of establishing a new reference time, this is a function of the inherent temporal nature of the textual depiction of the event having taken place in the temporal
world. The succession or progression of events in a text is one of the cohesive dimensions of text. As Beaugrande and Dressler comment, “[a] text ‘makes sense’
because there is a
CONTINUITY OF SENSES
among the knowledge activated by the expressions of the text” Beaugrande and Dressler 1981, 84. The means by which a
language indicates temporal organization match cognitively with human experience in the world. Events take time and typical narrative depiction of them represents that temporal
progression. See 6.4 for discussion of the mismatch between the event world and the narrative depiction of it.
One of the ways the narrative depiction of events differs from experience in the world is in the speaker or narrator’s ability to diverge from basic progression and make
temporal reference that either precedes or follows the Reference Time established in the
270 text. In biblical Hebrew, for example, the Reference Time is established by each
successive
WAYYIQTOL
in the text. Departures from this pattern are significant and raise questions about their function and temporal reference relative to the
WAYYIQTOL
pattern. One of the most common departures from the
WAYYIQTOL
series is some type of structure with a
QATAL
form. Hatav makes the observation that the
QATAL
does not introduce or update the Reference Time Hatav 1997, 80. The temporal reference of the
QATAL
is relative to that established by the
WAYYIQTOL
, typically prior to or anterior to the established Reference Time. When a
QATAL
occurs in a series of
WAYYIQTOL
verbs, the temporal reference is temporarily moved back relative to the established Reference Time
in the context. This concept is crucial to the temporal interpretation of the examples in the following sections where the temporal expression is nearly identical, but the
following verb is a
WAYYIQTOL
in one case and a
QATAL
in another.
When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Pc-vqw3msXa Pp-vqcX3mp PoX3ms Pc-vqw3mp amp ncmp Pc-vqw3mp
PpX3ms
; + + 8 ;5 ?
Judg 14:11
When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she had
obtained favor in his sight, then the king extended to Esther the golden
scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the
top of the scepter. Pc-vqw3msXa Pp-vqc Pa-ncms Po-np
Pa-ncfs vqPfs Pp+Pa-ncbs vqp3fs ncms Pp-ncfdcX3ms Pc-vhw3msXa Pa-ncms
Pp-np Po-ncms Pa-ncms Pr Pp- ncfscX3ms Pc-vqw3fs np Pc-vqw3fs Pp-
ncms Pa-ncms
3 5
4 3 +
F . 6
5 4 3 6 +
; G5 5
5 ; 86
-
Esth 5:2
Based on the fundamental principle that linguistic systems are not random, but rather are intricately interactive, context-sensitive systems, the assumption is that
271 occurrences of
QATAL
and
WAYYIQTOL
are motivated by factors relevant to narrative strategy. The precise motivations for each case may not be accessible to the modern
reader or analyst, but the alternative is much more unsatisfactory, requiring the conclusion that the
QATAL
and
WAYYIQTOL
are sometimes used interchangeably for no apparent reason. These concepts need to be kept in min throughout the extensive sections
of data displayed later on in this chapter.
9.2.2.2 Word Order and Narrative Strategies
