Infinitives, Cognate Objects and Related Constructions

[Gideon Goldenberg]

Dear Matthew Anstey and Fellow Typologists,
Constructions with infinitives like those in Hebrew that are
here mentioned, and similar constructions of various types, have
been the subject of numerous studies (also special monographs)
in Semitic, Slavic, Romance, Germanic and other languages. One
good advice for those of us interested in typological and cross-
linguistic study of language phenomena is to start from good
standard grammars of the languages involved. Literature on the
various relevant constructions in quite a few languages, with
special discussion of their different uses, will be found in my
extensive article "Tautological Infinitive" now available in
"Studies in Semitic Linguistics: Selected Writings of Gideon
Goldenberg" (Jerusalem, The Magnes Press, 1998) pp. 66-115.
By the way, "dani maher kar'a kri'a 'et	ha-mixtav" ('Danny gave
the letter a quick read'), quoted here from Asya Pereltsvaig's
paper, is ungrammatical.
                                              Yours,
                                                      Gideon.

>--------------------------------------<
>Dera LingTypers,
>
>A question about cognate verbs.
>
>In Hebrew (of all periods) we find two so-called infinitives, the
>infinitive absolute and the infinitive construct. The infinitive
>construct is a regular infinitive, but the infinitive absolute is
>normally cognate to the main verb, functioning as a cognate object
>according to Asya Pereltsvaig (2001). He divides cognate object uses
>into argument cognate objects and (manner/focus) adverbial cognate
>objects. So in Mod Heb:
>
>argument cognate object
>dani	xiyex			xiyux	same'ax
>danny	smile:PST.3MSG	smile:INF.ABS	happy
>'Danny smiled a happy smile'
>
>adverbial cognate object
>dani	maher		kar'a			kri'a
>'et	ha-mixtav
>danny	quickly	read:PST.3MSG	read:INF.ABS	ACC	ART-letter
>'Danny gave the letter a quick read'
>
>But, as Pereltsvaig points out, in Biblical Hebrew, adverbial cognate
>objects are used mainly for contrastive focus or emphasis:
>
>sakol			yisakel
>stone:INF.ABS	stone:NPST.3MSG
>'He will be *surely* stoned'
>
>Pereltsvaig therefore calls such infinitive absolutes FACOs: focussed
>adverbial cognate objects. The reason Pereltsvaig retains the "object"
>part of the label is because he argues they are nominal forms rather
>than verbal, because "these forms never have any verbal morphology on
>them... FACOS never bear any tense, mood, causative, or passive
>morphology." However, few agree with this nominal analysis, as there are
>numerous examples such as:
>
>hochorev				nechervu
>ham-melakim
>destroy:PASS.CAUS.INF.ABS	destroy:MEDP.ANT.3MPL	ART-kings
>'the kings *must* have fought one another'
>
>But if then Infinitive Absolutes in Biblical Hebrew are verbal and the
>majority of uses are to emphasise either the predication or the
>illocutionary force, the label "object" seems inappropriate.
>
>My question is, therefore, what would be a typologically appropriate
>label/description of cognate verbs that function adverbially to
>focus/emphasise the main predicate? What sort of construction is this?
>
>Some further examples of its uses are as follows (as one can see,
>context/pragmatics does lots of work in interpretation). For want of a
>better term, I have glossed the infinitive absolute verb as INF.ABS.
>
>qano			'eqneh
>pay:INF.ABS		pay.NPST.1SG
>'I *insist* on paying'
>
>shim`u		shamoa`
>hear:IMPV.2MSG	hear:INF.ABS
>'listen up!'
>
>homleach			lo	humlachat
>rob:PASS.CAUS.INF.ABS	NEG	rob:PASS.CAUS.2MSG
>'you were *definitely* not robbed'
>
>ha-malok		timlok
>INT-reign:INF.ABS	reign:NPST.2MSG
>'will you *actually* reign?'
>
>he-'akol		'akalnu
>INT-eat:INF.ABS	eat:ANT.2MSG
>'have we eaten *anything*?'
>
>lu		shaqol		yishshaqel
>COND.NEG	weigh:INF.ABS	weighs:NPST.PASS.3MSG
>'if only it *could* be weighed'
>
>ha-yadoa`		neda`			ki
>INT-know:INF.ABS  know:ANT.1PL	that
>'How could we *possibly* know that?'
>
>wa-yehi		'ak	yatso'		yatsa'
>and.COP.3MSG	only	go.out:INF.ABS	go.out:ANT.3MSG
>'and it was only *immediately* after he left ...'
>
>
>Thanks for your comments/questions/suggestions in advance,
>
>Matthew
>
>
>Pereltsvaig, Asya
>        2001    Cognate objects in Modern and Biblical Hebrew. In: Jamal
>Ouhalla-Ur Shlonsky (eds.), Themes and Issues in Arabic and Hebrew,
>1-33. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
>
>
>Mr Matthew Anstey (manstey at csu.edu.au)
>Charles Sturt University
>School of Theology
>
>Address:
>St Mark's National Theological Centre
>15 Blackall St
>Barton ACT 2600
>AUSTRALIA
>
>Ph:  +61 (0)2 6273 1572
>Fax: +61 (0)2 6273 4067