Left dislocation in biblical Hebrew : a cognitive linguistic account

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present work consists of an investigation into the form and function(s) of the so-called'Left Dislocation' construction in Biblical Hebrew. As such, this inquiry is part of a largerdomain of research that explores the nature and function of word order variation in BiblicalHebrew. As a result of a pilot study conducted by the present author in 2010, as well asrecent advances within the feilds of cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, and discoursepragmatics-particularly with its sub-discipline known as information structure-a freshexamination of Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew is called for. Drawing on research fromthe aforementioned feilds of study, we propose a cognitive-functional theoretical model thatprovides a framework for a more comprehensive explanation of Left Dislocation in BiblicalHebrew.Furthermore, this work situates Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew against a broaderprofile of Left Dislocation across langauges. This is accomplished by examining the findingsof a range of cross-linguistic studies-with respect to a variety of related and unrelatedlanguages-that are concerned with both the syntactico-semantic and discourse-functionalattributes of Left Dislocation. Typological generalizations drawn from these studies are thenapplied to the identification, classification, and explanation of a data set comprised of over650 tokens taken from Genesis to 2 Kings. The result of this analysis is twofold.First, a thorough description is provided in terms of the external (i.e. global) andinternal syntactico-semantic attributes of tokens comprising the data set. Consistent withtypological findings, the data set reflects a taxonomic network of constructional schemas thatare classified according to an exemplar model of conceptual categorization.Second, utilizing a cognitive-theoretical model, as well as insights garnered from crosslinguisticstudies, the aforementioned syntactico-semantic description is explained in terms ofthe cognitive-pragmatic motivation for the use of Left Dislocation in BH narrative discourse,as well as the prototypical and non-prototypical discourse function(s) accomplished by theconstruction therein.Lastly, a developmental framework is proposed that accounts for the form-functionvariation exhibited by the tokens in our data set. This framework consists of broaderdevelopmental processes involving usage-based patterns of language change, as well as a'panchronic' view of grammar, where synchrony and diachrony are viewed as an integratedwhole, and where grammars are always emergent and never completely established.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University