The Verb and the Paragraph in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach.

• Author: Notarius, Tania
• Position: Book review

The Verb and the Paragraph in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach. By ELIZABETH ROBAR. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, vol. 78. Leiden: BRILL, 2014. Pp. xii + 220. $142

Biblical Hebrew (BH) is one of the most studied languages in the world and the BH verbal system is one of the most studied topics of BH grammar. Almost every year a monograph or two and a few articles about different aspects of BH verbal syntax are published. In view of such intensive production, the publication of new research seems to be justified on the basis of two interrelated factors: 1) newly introduced linguistic data; 2) heuristically innovative promising analytical framework(s). As for novel linguistic material, it can include different genres or corpus parts of the Hebrew Bible, other Hebrew extra-biblical corpora, comparative Semitic data, various contact materials, general cross-linguistic data, etc. As for methodology, the recent development of BH studies demonstrates that strict linguistic frameworks, as well as cross-linguistic studies and discourse analysis, greatly contribute to BH linguistic research and improve our understanding of the grammatical system.

The monograph of Elizabeth Robar suggests novel explications for some problems of the BH verbal system. The corpus under analysis remains undefined, which, in my view, is a considerable methodological deficiency. The linguistics of ancient written languages such as BH cannot be based on a scholar's innate linguistic competence, but is essentially corpus-driven. Therefore the corpus delimitation is a crucial condition for properly conducted research. The literary diversity of examples in this monograph (both prose and poetry, classical and late texts) may mean that the Hebrew Bible as a whole provided the database, but there is no explicit confirmation of this. (However, the index of biblical quotations suggests quite a narrow scope.) The risk in such an approach is that the examples that could potentially challenge a theory are simply left out. Nevertheless, the author enlarges the linguistic data by adducing typological parallels with Neo-Semitic, particularly with Neo-Aramaic (pp. 89-92), as well as Bantu (p. 96) and some other languages.

The research is mainly theory-oriented: chapter 1 discuses in general "how language reflects and embodies human cognition" (pp. 1-60). As commonly in linguistic analysis aimed at a particular language or phenomenon, the framework is integral and eclectic. The main theoretical standpoint has its roots in cognitive theory and concentrates on expressions of coherence and prominence in texts. The mapping of consciousness onto discourse operates on two levels: linguistic (syntax) and conceptual (cognition); conceptual units are mirrored in discourse units, discourse units are grouped around a certain theme (pp. 40-41). Continuity is a central notion for the author's text typology and methodology in general. While topic shifts mark discontinuity, the continuity remains unmarked (pp. 42-43; it seems that the author does not...