Reclaiming the Text-grammar of Harald Weinrich and the Syntax of Genesis 24

Vasile Condrea

doi:10.25159/2663-6573/9239

Authors

Vasile Condrea Dublin City University, Ireland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9849-9492

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/9239

Keywords:

text-grammar, text-linguistics, dependency grammar, Genesis 24, xqatal, wayyiqtol, xparticiple, Weinrich, Tesniere, narrative versus comment

Abstract

We are approaching the 50-year mark since Wolfgang Schneider wrote a brief chapter on Hebrew syntax (in his Grammatik des biblischen Hebräisch [1974]) based on the text-linguistic method of Harald Weinrich (Tempus [1964]). This contribution offers reflections on this often-neglected linguist, and extends a recently proposed way of looking at the syntax of Biblical Hebrew, starting from a re-examination of Weinrich’s linguistic principles. A text-linguistic analysis of the wayyiqtol, xqatal, and xparticiple as evident in the indirect speech of Genesis 24 is presented. This contribution brings to the fore the relevance of Weinrich’s text-grammar for the study of Biblical Hebrew and the connection between Weinrich and Lucien Tesnière (dependency grammar).

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