Narrative Structure and Discourse Constellations: An Analysis of Clause Function in Biblical Hebrew Prose (review)

Hebrew Studies 45 (2004) 298 Reviews BHS, the more likely he/she is to remain interested in the subject and to succeed in his/her learning experience. By the last lesson, students should find themselves translating only biblical verses, not artificially created material. Although Futato’s textbook is very usable in its current format, it could be enhanced by introducing the following changes in a future edition: 1) include additional information on the syntactical features of the language, so that students would learn to connect the “form” and “function” of grammatical elements; 2) add biblical verses in the translation exercises and decrease the number of artificial Hebrew sentences; 3) insert exercises of translation from English to Hebrew to reinforce the rules of grammar; 4) include an English to Hebrew vocabulary list; 5) provide a glossary of grammatical terms and a bibliography of Hebrew grammars and lexical tools; and 6) correct the typographical errors in the text (e.g., p. 15 vocabulary—t…w;kVlAm should not have a dagesh in the kaf; p. 30 “congugation” should read “conjugation”). In conclusion, Futato’s Beginning Biblical Hebrew will surely find its place in the classrooms of many academic institutions but not without facing strong competition from other recently published grammars. Instructors who prefer teaching Hebrew using an inductive approach will resist Futato’s grammar while those who delight in brief explanations, a clear format, and a deductive method may opt for this new introductory textbook. Hélène Dallaire Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion Cincinnati, OH 45220 hdallaire@huc.edu NARRATIVE STRUCTURE AND DISCOURSE CONSTELLATIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF CLAUSE FUNCTION IN BIBLICAL HEBREW PROSE. By Roy L. Heller. HSS 55. Pp. xi + 494. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2004. Cloth, $49.95. The book starts by pointing the need of a “thorough and uniform treatment of the various functions of clauses in biblical Hebrew prose” (p. 2). It refers to Biblical Hebrew in the narrow sense, namely the written Hebrew language of the Bible according to the BHS edition of the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible (p. 3, n. 6). More details regarding the goals of the work are presented on pages 25–27: the study treats the function of verbal and non-verbal clauses in Biblical Hebrew prose, it methodologically differentiates between narrative and direct discourse prose, and it examines the presence of the various types of clauses and their pragmatic function in each of these prose types. Hebrew Studies 45 (2004) 299 Reviews Chapter 1 (pp. 1–32) first offers a brief, useful introduction to the problem of the structure of biblical narrative and the functions of biblical discourse. It reviews four basic approaches to Biblical Hebrew verb and clause types, namely, tense-based, historical-comparative, aspect-based, and discourselinguistic approaches. Next some general remarks present the goals of the study and a methodological overview, setting it in the framework of the discourse-linguistic approach. A methodologically fundamental differentiation made in the study is between narrative and direct discourse (p. 25). Following and expanding on Robert Longacre’s analyses (his works are cited on pp. 487–488), direct discourse in this study is divided into two major types, one presenting information and the other expressing the speaker’s will. Each of these two discourse types is further divided into five sub-types. The type presenting information is divided into narrative, predictive, and expository; the type expressing the speaker’s will is divided into interrogative, and hortatory (pp. 25–26). The author seeks to show that the usage of verbal clauses with various suffix- and prefix-conjugation verbal forms, and of participial, verbless, and incomplete clauses is consistent, and is determined by the type of either narrative or direct discourse, and by the latter’s sub-types (pp. 26–27). The author also states that he is mainly interested in independent clauses, and treats subordinate clauses only occasionally (p. 28, especially note 88). The data of verbal and non-verbal uses found in each of the prose types are assembled and described in chapters 2 and 3 in charts including statistics of their distribution. The biblical texts chosen for a complete discourselinguistic analysis of clause function are the prose...