435 narrative, typically realized as temporal expressions. The
ORIENTATION
function of in temporal expressions is discussed below.
It is important to note that the Gen 39:2 example is surrounded by many other occurrences of
. Chapter 39 alone has 11.54 of all the occurrences in Genesis, not to mention that chapter 38 has another 4.62, giving these two chapters more than 16
of all the occurrences in the whole book. Again, just the mere statistics do not tell the whole story. The various uses must be considered, separating the verbal occurrences
from the temporal ones, before determining the significance of the high frequency of occurrence.
From the perspective of the
ORIENTATION
function of , the discourse-
pragmatic significance of this cluster of occurrences is in the setting being established for the upcoming climactic narrative which ends the book. This is, however, not merely a
result of occurrences of , but rather of
working together with other narrative features.
10.4 Evaluating the Temporal Uses of
An understanding of clause syntax is fundamental to the analysis of . It is
also important to develop an understanding of the typical way in which clauses join to form sentences. In the sentence, not only is the identification of its clauses necessary, but
it is crucial to also take into account the position of the clauses within the sentences they form. One of the important aspects of the analysis of temporal expressions is the position
in which they occur in the sentence. Do certain temporal expressions only occur in the
436 pre-nuclear margin or the post-nuclear margin? Is there a difference in function between
the pre-nuclear and the post-nuclear temporal expression? Regarding , is there a
positional difference in its occurrence?
POST
-
NUCLEAR PRE
-
NUCLEAR CLAUSES
:
MARGIN NUCLEUS
MARGIN SENTENCE
Figure 31: Clause Nucleus and Margins
Both the pre- and post-nuclear margins are dependent clauses, whereas the nucleus is the independent or main clause of the sentence. Examples:
Nuclear clause only:
He went down to Joppa.
+
Jonah 1:3
With pre-nuclear margin:
When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very
beautiful woman.
+ -
3 8
Gen 12:14
With post-nuclear margin:
He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan
came from Jezreel.
+ E
2 Sam 4:4
Some temporal expressions occur in the post-nuclear margin as in 2 Sam 4:4, but never occurs here. In temporal expressions,
only occurs in sentence-initial, pre- nuclear margins. The use of
in temporal expressions contrasts only in the pre- nuclear position. Grammar and syntax textbooks should be careful to take this into
account when illustrative examples are selected. For example, in Arnold and Choi 2003,
437 103, examples are given of used temporally, but the examples come from very
different textual and clausal environments. At a certain level, the strict syntax of the components from different clause environments may for all practical purposes be the
same. This is problematic, however, when the question of use arises. What may appear to be identical syntactic structures may have very different functions and contexts of use.
Regarding the role of in indicating tense, Ross is a good example of the view
that identifies as a macrosyntactic marker, which “indicates simply that the narrated
events occurred in the past” Ross 2001, 139-40. In response, first of all, the indication of the temporal reference is not dependent upon the presence of
alone. There are many other contextual indicators that the events occurred in the past. The uneven
distribution of raises serious issues for this claim. If
were the indicator of tense for the narrative, one would expect a much more even distribution without the repeated
cases which sometimes occur. If the function were that of indicating past tense, the use of
in successive clauses would be very difficult to explain. The frequent temporal use of
with infinitive constructs is, however, one of the contexts in which
does play a role in establishing temporal reference for the atemporal infinitive construct. Especially when the use of
and are compared in
this syntactic relationship, it seems clear that does indeed indicate past tense. This
temporal reference is limited to the clause within which the expression with and the
infinitive construct occur and does not establish the tense for the whole narrative. The results of the current research indicate, then, that
is not a “tense marker,” but rather it
438 is to be read as one of the components of temporal reference in the text. For instance, in
the example discussed above from Gen 22:4, there is no to indicate the tense, but the
narrative continues to refer unambiguously to the past. In 9.2.2.1, the section on Speaker Deixis, it was stated that each
WAYYIQTOL
moves along the temporal dimension of the narrative, with each event establishing a new
Reference Time
. One of the ways that ’s behavior as a
WAYYIQTOL
is seen is that also makes a move along the temporal dimension of the narrative. The particular
temporal expression with which occurs may be backreferencing, but
establishes a new moment or place along the temporal dimension. In the discussion of van der
Merwe’s analysis above, reference was made to the statement that “ signals that the
reference time of a state of affairs is that of the current reference time of a preceding temporally anchored event or events” van der Merwe 1999, 113-14. The use of
in temporal expressions, however, indicates that the expression occurring with
has moved along the temporal axis of the narrative. Just as each
WAYYIQTOL
establishes its own Reference Time, the temporal expression with
also establishes a new point of temporal reference from which the ensuing events are viewed. The temporal expression
itself may be backreferencing, but establishes a new temporal reference point.
Throughout the data display in Chapter nine, the occurrences of are
categorized according to the form of the verb which follows. The
ORIENTATION
function of
is fundamental to the reading of these examples. The temporal expression with sets the stage for the narrative it precedes. If the following verb form is a
439
WAYYIQTOL
, the temporal reference of the expression with sets the temporal
reference for that event as the first in the upcoming narrative succession. If the following verb is a
QATAL
, the temporal expression still establishes a new point of reference, but the
QATAL
indicates an event anterior to the temporal point established by .
10.5 Evaluating the Discourse-Pragmatic Functions of
