Prosodic phrases
4.3.2. Graphematic words with close parallels to prosodic phrases in Tiberian Hebrew 1. Construct phrases
When words are separated according to prosodic words, we have seen that there is no particular expectation that construct phrases should be represented as single graphematic words (§1.5.2, §1.5.4). This corresponds with what we saw in the Phoenician inscriptions discussed in the previous chapter (§3.4.2, §3.6.2.1). However, in KAI 10, construct phrases are always written as a single graphematic word (§4.2.1).
An advantage of a prosodic phrase level account of word division in KAI 10, therefore, is that it explains why construct phrases would be univerbated: as we saw in Tiberian Hebrew (§1.5.3), construct chains are usually part of the same prosodic phrase.
Construct chains comprising more than two elements, however, may be broken up into one or more prosodic phrases (cf. Yeivin 1980, 174), e.g.:
(179) Num 11:11
ה֖ ֶזּ ַה ם֥ ָע ָה־ל ָכּ א� ָשּׂ ַמ־ת ֶא ⟵
(ʾt≡mśʾφ) (kl≡hʿm h-zhφ) obj≡[[burden all≡the-peoplenp] thisdp]
‘the burden of all this people’
If ʾš=ʿl=ptḥ 〈ω〉 ḥrṣ=zn 〈ω〉 (10.5) is indeed an example of nouns in construct (cf. §4.2.3) then (179) constitutes a close parallel to KAI 10.5: both examples take the following form (where the bracketed divisions correspond to prosodic phrases in Tiberian Hebrew and graphematic words in KAI 10):
(ptcl + np) + (np + adj.dem)
4.3.2.2. Noun + Modifier Phrases (incl. Demonstrative Determiner Phrases)
We saw previously (§3.6.3) that demonstrative determiners are much more likely to form part of the same prosodic phrase as their syntactic heads than to be incorporated into the same prosodic word. This distribution aligned with the distribution of graphematic words in KAI 1, 4, 7 and 24, where modifiers are never incorporated into the same graphematic word as their syntactic heads. By contrast, in KAI 10 modifiers may or may not be incorporated into the same graphematic word as their syntactic heads.
Since by far the most frequent situation is for a modifying demonstrative to occur in the same prosodic phrase as the syntactic head, finding parallels for (159) is not difficult, e.g.:
(180) Deut 32:49
הֶ֜זּ ַה םי ֙ ִר ָבֲע ָה ֩ר ַה־ל ֶא ה ֵ֡לֲע ⟵
(ʿlhω φ) (ʾl≡hrω h-ʿbrymω h-zhω φ) go.imp to≡mountain the-TN the-this
‘Go up to this Mount Abarim’ (trans. after KJV)
The Tiberian Hebrew sequence Noun + h-zh where each element belongs to a different prosodic phrase is even rarer than the same sequence joined by maqqef, with a mere 60 instances. Furthermore, in a number of these, the demonstrative does not modify the noun. Nevertheless, it is possible to find parallels to (160), e.g.:
(181) Num 21:25
ה ֶלּ֑ ֵא ָה םי ֖ ִרָע ֶה־ל ָכּ ת֥ ֵא ל ֵ֔א ָר ְשִׂי ֙ח ַקּ ִיַּו ⟵
(w=yqḥω φ) (yśrʾlω φ) (ʾtω kl≡h-ʿrymω φ) (h-ʾlhω φ) and=took GN obj all≡the-cities the-these
‘And Israel took all these cities’ (KJV)
The following example provides a minimal counterpart to (180):
(182) Num 27:12
ה֑ ֶזּ ַה םי ֖ ִר ָבֲע ָה ר֥ ַה־ל ֶא ה� ֵלֲע ⟵
(ʿlhω φ) (ʾl≡hrω h-ʿbrymω φ) (h-zhφ) go.imp to≡mountain the-TN the-this
‘Go up to this Mount Abarim’ (after KJV)
While rare, therefore, the prosodic phrase level separation of demonstrative determiner from its syntactic head is paralleled in Tiberian Hebrew.
4.3.2.3. nps in apposition
At (161) we saw that the set of appositional nps in KAI 10.1 are written separately from one another (§4.2.3). We see the same phenomenon in Tiberian Hebrew prosodic phrases involving lists of names and their titles, e.g.:
(183) Gen 14:1
ם ָ֔ליֵע ךְ ֶל֣ ֶמ ֙ר ֶמ ֹ֙ע ָל ְר ָד ְכּ ר֑ ָס ָלּ ֶא ךְ ֶל֣ ֶמ ךְוֹ֖י ְר ַא ר ָ֔ע ְנ ִשׁ־ךְ ֶל ֶֽמ ל֣ ֶפ ָר ְמ ַא ֙י ֵמי ִבּ י ִ֗הְיַו ⟵
׃ם ִֽיוֹגּ ךְ ֶל֥ ֶמ ל֖ ָע ְד ִת ְו (w=yhyφ) (b=ymyφ) (ʾmrpl mlk≡šnʿrφ) (ʾrywkφ)
and=happened in=days PN king=TN PN
(mlk ʾlsrφ) (kdrlʿmrφ) (mlk ʿylmφ)
king TN PN king TN
(w=tdʿlφ) (mlk gwymφ)
and=PN king TN
‘And it happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations’ (trans. after KJV)
In (183) all but one of the appositive mlk=TNω phrases comprise their own prosodic phrases. The exception is the first of these, namely, ʾmrplω mlk≡šnʿrω, where both the initial personal name and the appositive np are contained in the same prosodic phrase.
This shows that, while there is a tendency for nps in apposition to belong to separate prosodic phrases, this principle is not always adhered to.
In KAI 10, too, we saw that nps in apposition are not always written separately, as with the sequence mzbḥ=nḥšt (163). With nps in apposition of this kind – that is, where the second element gives the material out of which the first is made – the elements may either belong to the same prosodic phrase, or to different ones. Compare the phrases (mnrwtω h-zhbω φ) and (w=nrty=hmω φ) (zhbω φ) in the following example:
(184) 1Chr 28:15
ב ָ֗הָזּ ַה תוֹ ֣רֹנ ְמ ִל ל ָ֞ק ְשׁ ִמוּ ⟵
(w=mšqlω φ) (l=mnrwtω h-zhbω φ) (w=nrty=hmω φ) (zhbω φ) and=weight for=lamps the-gold and=light=their gold
‘[he gave] the weight for the candlesticks of gold, and for their lamps of gold’ (after KJV)
4.3.2.4. Particle-initial phrases
In KAI 10 relative pronouns are always written together with the following morpheme.
Table 4.3 gives the frequencies for the accentuation of the equivalent Hebrew relative
particle, רשׁא ʾšr.7 From the table it can be seen that in the vast majority of instances (63% + 27.9% = 90.9%), רשׁא ʾšr has either a conjunctive accent or maqqef, meaning that it belongs to the same prosodic phrase or prosodic word as the following morpheme. A prosodic phrase level account of word division in KAI 10 would therefore be consistent with the Hebrew data.
4.3.2.5. Verb-initial phrases
In the prosodic word-level word division we saw in
Chapter 3, univerbated verb-initial syntagms are attested, but rarely. In KAI 10, by contrast, we find multi-multiconsonantal-morpheme units containing verbal forms written together as a single graphematic word, as at (177). In many cases these graphematic words correspond to whole vps.
Univerbation of entire vps may be found in Tiberian Hebrew prosodic phrases.
(177) above can be said to be of the following form:
(185) conj=v + prep + pron.suff + n
The following is a parallel from Tiberian Hebrew:
(186) Exod 25:25
ת ֶרֽ� ֶגּ ְס ִמ וֹ ֥לּ ָתי ִ֙שָׂע ְו ⟵
(w=ʿśyt l-w msgrtφ)
and=make.2sg for-it rim
‘And you shall make a rim for it’
It should be said that examples of this scale of unit exist at the prosodic word level in Tiberian Hebrew, although much more rarely. I could find no direct parallels of (177), that is, of prosodic word syntagms of the form at (185). However, one example of the following similar sequence was found:
(187) ptcl + v + prep + pron.suff + n namely:8
7 Search conducted using software written by the author on the basis of morphological analysis in MorphHb (https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb/tree/master/wlc), using the corpus of prose books listed at §7.2.
8 With the same phrase occurring again two verses later at 2Sam 15:4.
Table 4.3: Accentuation of relative particle רׁשא ʾšr
Accent Freq. %
Conjunctive 2937 63.0
Maqqef 1303 27.9
Disjunctive 424 9.1
Total 4664
(188) 2Sam 15:2
֩בי ִר־וֹלּ־הֶי ְהִי־ר ֶֽשֲׁא שׁי֣ ִא ָה־ל ָכּ ⟵ kl≡h-ʾyšω ʾšr≡yhyh≡l-w≡rybω every≡the-man who≡be≡to-him≡dispute
‘any man that had a controversy’ (KJV)
However, the fact that this length of sequence is more commonly attested at the prosodic phrase rather than the prosodic word level in Tiberian Hebrew is suggestive of the former being the more appropriate level of comparison.
Finally, in one instance, tbrk at (178), the verb is written separately from the surrounding morphemes. If graphematic word division in KAI 10 corresponds to prosodic phrase division in Tiberian Hebrew, the separate writing of tbrk corresponds in Tiberian Hebrew to an initial verb carrying a disjunctive accent. Such instances do occur in Tiberian Hebrew, although they are rare, e.g.:9
(189) Num 21:25
ה ֶלּ֑ ֵא ָה םי ֖ ִרָע ֶה־ל ָכּ ת֥ ֵא ל ֵ֔א ָר ְשִׂי ֙ח ַקּ ִיַּו ⟵
(w=yqḥω φ) (yśrʾlω φ) (ʾtω kl≡h-ʿrymω φ) (h-ʾlhω φ) and=took GN obj all≡the-cities the-these
‘And Israel took all these cities’ (KJV)
4.3.3. Graphematic words without close parallels to prosodic phrases in Tiberian