Infinitives, Cognate Objects and Related Constructions

[Anstey, Matthew]

Dear list,

After two people pointed out the error in the Mod Heb example, I checked
the article and noted that I conflated two examples accidentally. To
quote Pereltsvaig correctly this time, his example (35b):

dani	kar'a	'et	ha-mixtav	kri'a		mehira
danny	read	ACC	the-letter	reading	quick
'Danny gave the letter a quick read'

Thanks for the comments that I have received,

With regards,
Matthew


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 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for ALT 
> [mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of 
> Gideon Goldenberg
> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 10:06 PM
> To: LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Infinitives, Cognate Objects and Related Constructions
> 
> 
> 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
>