A linguistic, analogical, and computational analysis of the Syriac d-stem in Psalms I-XXX according to the Peshiṭta version
<p>The function of the Semitic <i>Doppelungsstamm</i>, or D-stem, has proven one of the most vexing problems in Semitic linguistics. While grammarians regularly associate the D-stem with some manner of plurality, the precise contours of this relationship have remained obscure. By d...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2023
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| Summary: | <p>The function of the Semitic <i>Doppelungsstamm</i>, or D-stem, has proven one of the most vexing problems in Semitic linguistics. While grammarians regularly associate the D-stem with some manner of plurality, the precise contours of this relationship have remained obscure. By deductively testing the way in which a sample corpus from the <i>Peshiṭta</i> Psalms employs the D- stem in translation of various linguistic items in its Hebrew <i>Vorlage</i>, the present study seeks to ascertain the nature and type of plurality that the Syriac translators may have intended by their use of the form. The hope is that by clarifying the enigmatic plural function of the D-stem in one member of the Semitic family of languages it might be possible to contribute to its understanding in others.</p>
<p>To accomplish this, a sample corpus from the <i>Peshiṭta</i> Psalms was subjected to a computational machine learning analysis whose statistical results were used to determine which occurrences of the D-stem should be subjected to analysis as well as those that have the greatest potential to yield meaningful results. Then, the various ways in which the form has been associated with plurality by both ancient and modern grammarians was explored and honed in light of general linguistic theory. This was done to provide the deductive basis by which the Syriac D-stem forms in the sample corpus could be evaluated for plurality and to allow the contributions of a discipline that has seldom been brought to bear on the topic inform the analysis.</p>
<p>The results of the study revealed a function of the Syriac D-stem consistent with the marking of plural events as originally intimated by ancient Semitic grammarians and later termed "event-internal pluractionality" in the linguistics literature, while also revealing additional insights into Syriac's event construal vis-à-vis Hebrew and the prospect of D-stem lexicalization.</p> |
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