Abstract
The present paper discusses the issue of Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in Biblical Aramaic within the dynamic grammaticalization-based model of verbal serialization – a recent modification of a prototype-driven approach to SVCs used in linguistic typology. Having analyzed the entire corpus of Biblical Aramaic, the authors conclude the following: (a) verbal serialization constitutes an integral part of the verbal system of Biblical Aramaic; (b) pre-canonical SVCs are more common that canonical SVCs, and no cases of post-canonicity are attested; (c) Biblical Aramaic is a semi-advanced serializing language. Overall, the research corroborates the tendency of Semitic languages to gradually increase their serializing profile; a tendency that is often – albeit not without exception – correlated with the languages’ relative chronology.
References
Aarts, B. (2007): Syntactic Gradience, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A. (2006a): Serial Verb Constructions in Typological Perspective. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 1–68. Search in Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A. (2006b): Serial Verb Construction in Tariana. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 178–201.Search in Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A. (2011): Multi-Verb Constructions: Setting the Scene. In: A. Aikhenvald/P. Muysken (ed.), Multi-Verb Constructions: A View from the Americas (Brill’s Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the America 3), Leiden, 1–26.10.1163/ej.9789004194526.i-313Search in Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A. (2018): Serial Verbs, Oxford.10.1093/oso/9780198791263.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A./R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), (2006): Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Aikhenvald, A./P. Muysken (ed.), (2011): Multi-Verb Constructions: A View from the Americas (Brill’s Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the America 3), Leiden.10.1163/ej.9789004194526.i-313Search in Google Scholar
Amha, A./G. Dimmendaal (2006): Verbal Compounding in Wolaitta. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 319–337.Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A. (2018a): The WZIĄĆ Gram in Polish: A Serial Verb Construction, or not?, STUF – Language Typology and Universals 71/4, 577–629.10.1515/stuf-2018-0022Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A. (2018b): From Coordination to Verbal Serialization: The pójść (Serial Verb) Construction in Polish, Research in Language 16/1, 19–46.10.2478/rela-2018-0001Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A. (2019a): Categorial Gradience and Fuzziness: The QWM Gram (Serial Verb Construction) in Biblical Hebrew. In: G. Kotzé et al. (ed.), Ancient Texts and Modern Readers: Studies in Ancient Hebrew Linguistics and Bible Translation (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 71), Leiden, 100–126.10.1163/9789004402911_006Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A. (2019b): A Pseudo-Coordinated Serial Verb Construction “wziąć i V2” in Polish, Slovo a Slovesnost 80/3, 163–191Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A. et al. (2016): Left Dislocation: An Exploration in Linguistic Typology, Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics PLUS 50, 1–20.10.5842/50-0-719Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A. et al. (2018): The QeTAL form in the Aramaic of Ezra: A Grammaticalization Perspective, Archív Orientální 87/1, 59–98.Search in Google Scholar
Andrason, A./J. Vita (forthcoming): Serial Verb Construction in Ugaritic, Aula Orientalis 38/1.Search in Google Scholar
Arayathinal, T. (1957–1959): Aramaic Grammar, I-II, Mannanam.Search in Google Scholar
Bakir, M. (2010): Notes on the Verbal System of Gulf Pidgin Arabic, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 25/2, 201–228.10.1075/jpcl.25.2.01bakSearch in Google Scholar
Bar-Asher Siegal, E. (2016): Introduction to the Grammar of Jewish-Babylonian Aramaic (Lehrbücher orientalischer Sprachen 3/3), Münster (2nd edition).Search in Google Scholar
Basu, D./R. Wilbur (2010): Complex Predicates in Bangla: An Event-Based Analysis, Rice Working Papers in Linguistics 2, 1–19.Search in Google Scholar
Bauer, H./P. Leander (1927 [1969]): Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, Halle.Search in Google Scholar
Bergsträsser, G. (1998): Introduction to the Semitic Languages: Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches, Winona Lake.Search in Google Scholar
Beyer, K. (1986): The Aramaic Language: Its Distribution and Subdivisions, Göttingen.Search in Google Scholar
Biberauer, T./S. Vikner (2017): Having the Edge: A New Perspective on Pseudo-Coordination in Danish and Afrikaans. In: N. LaCara et al. (ed.), A Schrift to Fest Kyle Johnson, Amherst, 77–90.Search in Google Scholar
Bisang, W. (2009): Serial Verb Constructions, Language and Linguistics Compass 3/3, 792–814.10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00128.xSearch in Google Scholar
Bybee, J. et al. (1994): The Evolution of Grammar, Chicago.Search in Google Scholar
Chrzanowski, J. (2011): Verbal Hendiadys Revisited: Grammaticalization and Auxiliation in Biblical Hebrew Verbs (PhD Dissertation), Washington.Search in Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2003): Typology and Universals, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511840579Search in Google Scholar
Crowley, T. (2002): Serial Verb in Oceanic: A Descriptive Typology, Oxford.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198241355.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
De Vos, M. (2004): Pseudo Coordination is not Subordination. In: L. Cornips/J. Doetjes (ed.), Linguistics in the Netherlands 2004, Amsterdam, 181–119.10.1075/avt.21.20vosSearch in Google Scholar
De Vos, M. (2005): The Syntax of Pseudo-Coordination in English and Afrikaans (LOT 104), Utrecht.Search in Google Scholar
Del Olmo Lete, G./J. Sanmartín (2015): A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetical Tradition (HdOr. 1/112), Leiden (3rd edition).10.1163/9789004288652Search in Google Scholar
Dixon, R.M.W. (2006): Serial Verb Constructions: Conspectus and Coda. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 338–350.Search in Google Scholar
Dobbs-Allsopp, F.W. (1995): Ingressive qwm in Biblical Hebrew, Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 8, 31–55.Search in Google Scholar
Doornenbal, M. A. (2009): A Grammar of Bantawa: Grammar, Paradigm Tables, Glossary and Texts of a Rai Language of Eastern Nepal (LOT 222), Utrecht.Search in Google Scholar
Drozdík, L. (2008): A Search of Serial Verb Constructions in Arabic, Asian and African Studies 17/1, 3–16.Search in Google Scholar
Edzard, L. (2011): Biblical Hebrew. In: S. Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 36), Berlin, 480–514.10.1515/9783110251586.480Search in Google Scholar
Edzard, L. (2014): The Finite-Infinite Dichotomy in a Comparative Semitic Perspective. In: R. Meyer/Y. Treis/A. Amha (ed.), Explorations in Ethiopian Linguistics: Complex Predicates, Finiteness and Interrogativity, Wiesbaden, 205–223.Search in Google Scholar
Fan, Y. (2016): Serial Verb Constructions in Mandarin Chinese and Jinjiang Southern Min (PhD Dissertation), Manchester.Search in Google Scholar
Foley, W.A./M. Olson (1985): Clausehood and Verb Serialisation. In: J. Nichols/A. C. Woodbury (ed.), Grammar Inside and Outside the Clause: Some Approaches to Theories from the Field, Cambridge, 17–60. Search in Google Scholar
Folmer, M.L. (2012): Old and Imperial Aramaic. In: H. Gzella (ed.), Languages from the World of the Bible, Berlin, 128–159.Search in Google Scholar
Gamliel, O./A. Mar’i (2015): Bleached Verbs as Aspectual Auxiliaries in Colloquial Modern Hebrew and Arabic Dialects, Journal of Jewish Languages 3, 1–15.10.1163/22134638-12340039Search in Google Scholar
Georgakopoulos, T./P. Polis (2018): The Semantic Map Model: State of the Art and Future Avenues for Linguistic Research, Language and Linguistic Compass 12/2, 1–33.10.1111/lnc3.12270Search in Google Scholar
Goldenberg, G. (2013): Semitic Languages: Features, Structures, Relations, Processes, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Gordon, C. (1965): Ugaritic Textbook: Grammar, Texts in Transliteration, Cuneiform Selections, Glossary, Indices (AnOr. 38), Rome. Search in Google Scholar
Gzella, H. (2004): Tempus, Aspekt und Modalität im Reichsaramäischen (Veröffentlichtungen der Orientalischen Kommission 48), Wiesbaden.Search in Google Scholar
Gzella, H. (2011a): The Semitic Languages and Dialects III: North-West Semitic. In: S. Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages. A: International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 36), Berlin, 425–451. 10.1515/9783110251586.425Search in Google Scholar
Gzella, H. (2011b): Imperial Aramaic. In: S. Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 36), Berlin, 574–586.10.1515/9783110251586.574Search in Google Scholar
Gzella, H. (ed.), (2016): Aramäisches Wörterbuch, Stuttgart.Search in Google Scholar
Hajek, J. (2006): Serial Verbs in Tetun Dili. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 239–253.Search in Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (2003): The Geometry of Grammatical Meaning: Semantic Maps and Cross-linguistic Comparison. In: M. Tomasello (ed.), The New Psychology of Language: Cognitive and Functional Approaches to Language Structure, Mahwah, 211–242.Search in Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (2016): The Serial Verb Construction: Comparative Concept and Cross-Linguistic Generalizations, Language and Linguistics 17/3, 291–319.10.1177/2397002215626895Search in Google Scholar
Heine, B. (1997): Cognitive Foundations of Grammar, Oxford. Search in Google Scholar
Heine, B. et al. (1991): Grammaticalization: A Conceptual Framework, Chicago.Search in Google Scholar
Hopper, P./E.C. Traugott (2003): Grammaticalization, Cambridge (2nd edition). 10.1017/CBO9781139165525Search in Google Scholar
Huehnergard, J. (2005): A Grammar of Akkadian (HSS 45), Winona Lake (2nd edition). Search in Google Scholar
Hussein, L. (1990): Serial Verbs in Colloquial Arabic. In: L.B.D. Joseph/A.M. Zwicky (ed.), Working Papers in Linguistics 39. When Verbs Collide: Papers from the 1990 Ohio State Mini-conference on Serial Verbs, Columbus, 340–354.Search in Google Scholar
Isaksson, B. (2008): Circumstantial Qualifiers in the Arabic Dialect of Kinderib (East Turkey). In: S. Procházka/V. Ritt-Benmimoun (ed.), Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans: Studies on Contemporary Arabic Dialects. Proceedings of the 7th AIDA Conference, Held in Vienna from 5–9 September 2006, Wien, 251–258.Search in Google Scholar
Isaksson, B. (2009a): Introduction. In: B. Isaksson et al. (ed.), Circumstantial Qualifiers in Semitic: The Case of Arabic and Hebrew (AKM 70), Wiesbaden, 1–35. Search in Google Scholar
Isaksson, B. (2009b): An Outline of Comparative Arabic and Hebrew Textlinguistics. In: B. Isaksson et al. (ed.), Circumstantial Qualifiers in Semitic: The Case of Arabic and Hebrew (AKM 70), Wiesbaden, 36–150.Search in Google Scholar
Janda, L. (2015): Cognitive Linguistics in the Year 2015, Cognitive Semantics 1, 131–154.10.1163/23526416-00101005Search in Google Scholar
Johannessen, J.B. (1998): Coordination, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Kaufman, S. (2005): Aramaic. In: R. Hetzron (ed.), The Semitic Languages, London, 114–130.Search in Google Scholar
Khalaily, S. (1997): One Syntax for All Categories: Merging Nominal Atoms in Multiple Adjunction Structures (PhD Dissertation), Leiden.Search in Google Scholar
Khalaily, S./E. Doron (2016): Colloquial Modern Hebrew Doubly-Marked Interrogatives and Contact with Arabic and Neo-Aramaic Dialects. In: E. Doron (ed.), Language Contact and the Development of Modern Hebrew (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 84), Leiden, 112–127.Search in Google Scholar
Khan, G. (1999): A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel (HdOr. 1/47), Leiden. 10.1163/9789004305045Search in Google Scholar
Khan, G. (2002): The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 36), Leiden.10.1163/9789004348585Search in Google Scholar
Khan, G. (2004): The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sulemaniyya and Ḥalabja (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 44), Leiden.10.1163/9789047413585Search in Google Scholar
Khan, G. (2008): The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Urmi (Gorgias Neo-Aramaic Studies 2), Piscataway.Search in Google Scholar
Khan, G. (2009): The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Sanandaj (Gorgias Neo-Aramaic Studies 10), Piscataway.Search in Google Scholar
Kienast, B. (2001): Historische semitische Sprachwissenschaft, Wiesbaden. Search in Google Scholar
Koopmans, J.J. (1949): Aramese Grammatica, Leiden.Search in Google Scholar
Kouwenberg, N.J.C. (2011): The Akkadian Verb and its Semitic Background (LANE 2), Winona Lake.10.1515/9781575066240Search in Google Scholar
Kraus, F.R. (1987): Sonderformen akkadischer Parataxe: Die Koppelungen (Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks, Deel 50 – No. 1), Amsterdam. Search in Google Scholar
Krotkoff, G. (1982): A Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Kurdistan: Texts, Grammar and Vocabulary, New Haven.Search in Google Scholar
Lambdin, T.O. (1971): Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, New York.Search in Google Scholar
Li, L. (2015): The V+V Construction in Singaporean English, Studies in the Linguistic Sciences: Illinois Working Papers 40, 1–16.Search in Google Scholar
Li, T. (2009): The Verbal System of the Aramaic of Daniel: An Explanation in the Context of Grammaticalization (Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture 8), Leiden.10.1163/ej.9789004175143.i-200Search in Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, F. (2006): Serial Verb Constructions in Toqabaqita. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 254–272.Search in Google Scholar
Lillas, R. (2012): Hendiadys in the Hebrew Bible: An Investigation of the Applications of the Term (PhD Dissertation), Gothenburg. Search in Google Scholar
Lipiński, E. (2001): Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar (OLA 80), Leuven (2nd edition). Search in Google Scholar
Macúch, R. (1965): Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic, Berlin. 10.1515/9783110818727Search in Google Scholar
Meakins, F. (2010): The Development of Asymmetrical Serial Verb Constructions in an Australian Mixed Language, Linguistic Typology 14, 1–38.10.1515/lity.2010.001Search in Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1868): Grammatik der neusyrischen Sprache am Urmia-See und in Kurdistan, Leipzig.Search in Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1875): Mandäische Grammatik, Halle.Search in Google Scholar
Nöldeke, T. (1904): Compendious Syriac Grammar, London.Search in Google Scholar
Olawsky, K. (2006): A Grammar of Urarina (Mouton Grammar Library 37), Berlin – New York.10.1515/9783110892932Search in Google Scholar
Ouali, H./J. Al Bukhari (2016): The Syntax of Motion Light Verbs in Jordanian and Moroccan Arabic. In Y. Haddad/E. Potsdam (ed.), Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXVIII. Papers from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Gainesville, Florida, 2014, Amsterdam, 173–191.10.1075/sal.4.08ouaSearch in Google Scholar
Pardee, D. (2003/2004): Review of J. Tropper’s Ugaritische Grammatik (Münster 2000), AfO 50, 1–404.Search in Google Scholar
Pardee, D. (2011): Ugaritic. In: S. Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 36), Berlin, 460–471. 10.1515/9783110251586.460Search in Google Scholar
Persson, M. (2009): Circumstantial Qualifiers in Gulf Arabic Dialects. In B. Isaksson et al. (ed.), Circumstantial Qualifiers in Semitic: The Case of Arabic and Hebrew (AKM 70), Wiesbaden, 206–289.Search in Google Scholar
Polotsky, H.J. (1961): Studies in Modern Syriac, JSS 6/1, 1–32. 10.1093/jss/6.1.1Search in Google Scholar
Pospišil, A. (2017): Serial Verb Constructions in Arabic (MA Dissertation), Praha. Search in Google Scholar
Pullum, G.K. (1990): Constraints on Intransitive Quasi-Serial Verb Constructions in Modern Colloquial English, Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics 39, 218–239.Search in Google Scholar
Ross, J.R. (1967): Constraints on Variables in Syntax (PhD Dissertation), Cambridge. Search in Google Scholar
Ross, D. (2015): What Can Faroese Pseudocoordination Tell us About English Inflection?, LSO Working Papers in Linguistics 10, 74–91.Search in Google Scholar
Ross, D. (2018): An Afro-Asiatic Perspective on the Definition of Serial Verb Constructions. Talk at North Atlantic Conference On Afroasiatic Linguistics (NACAL 46), California State University, Long Beach, 2 June 2018.Search in Google Scholar
Ross, D. (forthcoming): Pseudocoordination, Serial Verb Constructions and Multi-Verb Predicates: The Relationship between Form and Structure (PhD Dissertation), Urbana.Search in Google Scholar
Rubin, A. (2005): Studies in Semitic Grammaticalization (HSS 57), Winona Lake. 10.1163/9789004370029Search in Google Scholar
Rubin, A. (2010): A Brief Introduction to the Semitic Languages, Piscataway. Search in Google Scholar
Schackow, D. (2015): A Grammar of Yakkha (Studies in Diversity Linguistics 7), Berlin.10.26530/OAPEN_603340Search in Google Scholar
Segert, S. (1975): Altaramäische Grammatik: Mit Bibliographie, Chrestomathie und Glossar, Leipzig.Search in Google Scholar
Solnit, D. (2006): Verb Serialization in Eastern Kayah Li. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 144–159.Search in Google Scholar
Steiner, R. (1997): Ancient Hebrew. In: R. Hetzron (ed.), The Semitic Languages, London – New York, 145–173.Search in Google Scholar
Streck, M.P. (2014): Altbabylonisches Lehrbuch (Porta linguarum orientalium NS 2), Harrassowitz (2nd edition).Search in Google Scholar
Tropper, J. (2012): Ugaritische Grammatik (AOAT 273), Münster (2nd edition).Search in Google Scholar
Verreet, E. (1988): Modi Ugaritici: Eine morpho-syntaktische Abhandlung über das Modalsystem im Ugaritischen (OLA 27), Leuven.Search in Google Scholar
Versteegh, K. (2003/2005): Some Remarks on Verbal Serialization in Arabic Dialects: In: G. Ayoub/J. Lentin (ed.), Linguistique arabe, Paris, 49–69. Search in Google Scholar
Versteegh, K. (2009): Serial Verbs. In: K. Versteegh (ed.), Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, Volume IV. Q–Z, Leiden, 195–199. Search in Google Scholar
Vilsker, L.H. (1981): Manuel d’araméen samaritain (French ed. by J. Margain), Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Wasserman, N. (2003): Style and Form in Old-Babylonian Literary Texts (CunMon. 27), Leiden.10.1163/9789004496668Search in Google Scholar
Wexler, P. (1990): The “Schizoid” Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past (Mediterranean Language and Culture Monograph Series 4), Wiesbaden.Search in Google Scholar
Woidich, M. (2002): Verbalphrasen mit asyndetischem Perfekt im Agyptisch-Arabischen, Estudios de Dilectología Norteafricana y Andalusí, 6, 121–192.Search in Google Scholar
Woidich, M. (2007): Everything You Always Wanted to Know About ʾāl, yiʾūl ‘To say’ in Egyptian Arabic. In: E. Ditters/H. Motzki (ed.), Approaches to Arabic Linguistics Presented to Kees Versteegh on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 49), Leiden, 675–700.Search in Google Scholar
Zavala, R. (2006): Serial Verbs in Olutec. In: A. Aikhenvald/R.M.W. Dixon (ed.), Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-linguistic Typology (Exploration in Linguistic Typology 2), Oxford, 273–300.Search in Google Scholar
Zinken, J. (2013): Reanimating Responsibility: The weź-V2 (take-V2) Double Imperative in Polish Interaction. In: N. Thielemann/P. Kosta (ed.), Approaches to Slavic Interaction (Dialogue Studies 20), Amsterdam, 35–61.10.1075/ds.20.04zinSearch in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Nachruf
- Horst Klengel
- Verbal Serialization in Biblical Aramaic
- Sea Raiders in the Amarna Letters?
- Zum hurritischen Wort immarde
- A Praise Poem of Warad-Sîn, King of Larsa, to Nippur
- A New Manuscript of Ninĝišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld
- Paraphernalia of Funerary Display at Kaneš
- Glossenkeil and Indentation on Hittite Tablets
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Nachruf
- Horst Klengel
- Verbal Serialization in Biblical Aramaic
- Sea Raiders in the Amarna Letters?
- Zum hurritischen Wort immarde
- A Praise Poem of Warad-Sîn, King of Larsa, to Nippur
- A New Manuscript of Ninĝišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld
- Paraphernalia of Funerary Display at Kaneš
- Glossenkeil and Indentation on Hittite Tablets