Studies in Semitic Syntax (review)

Hebrew Studies 32 (1991) 148 Reviews is clearly the product of many narrators and redactor/narrators (see Jeansonne herself on p. 68). Rather the idea of a "narrator" (in the singular) helps Jeansonne present her particular pro-women reading of these texts as the true, normative reading (what the narrator is doing), thus superseding various "false" readings of these texts as anti-women (what patriarchal readers are doing; but here cf. contrary feminist readings of these texts as anti-women by E. Fuchs, P. Trible, and others). That having been said, however, we conclude by saying that much in this book is fresh and creative enough, that Jeansonne's readers may often fmd themselves choosing to follow her in looking at these stories in a new way. David Carr Methodist Theological School in Ohio Delaware. OH 43015 STUDIES IN SEMITIC SYNTAX. By Geoffrey Khan. London Oriental Series 38. Pp. xxxix + 252. OxfordlNew York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Cloth, £37.50/$85.00. Semitic syntax-Geoffrey Khan's doctoral thesis (London, 1984) is concerned with one aspect of it, sentences like this one which display extraposition , or pronominal agreement. He examines Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic (but including Elephantine texts) and Syriac, Akkadian, and Amharic in successive chapters and concludes with a brief consideration of "Comparative Semitic Syntax" (pp. 225-233). The introduction sets out the reason for the work, its method, and its aim, commenting on previous studies (pp. xxv-xxxix). In each major chapter Khan analyzes the structure and then the function of the phenomena, his aim being "to seek the function which is performed by a given structure rather than the structure which performs a given function" (p. xxvii). The bulk of the book, therefore. is taken up with examples. These are. firstly, examples of structure, from simple cases of extraposition (e.g., "I-my covenant is with you" [Gen 17:4]) and of pronominal agreement (e.g., "The soul of your enemies-he shall sling it out [as] from the hollow of a sling" [1 Sam. 25:29]) to cases where the initial element has a longer descriptive clause (e.g.• Gen 48:5). Examples of function follow. Here there is more extensive discussion, for. through Hebrew Studies 32 (1991) 149 Reviews applying the approaches of "discourse analysis" developed by J. Grimes, R. Longacre, and T. van Dijk, Khan is able to demonstrate the role of extraposition and pronominal agreement in defining the bounds of "discourse " or a change in topic in each language (e.g., Gen 17:15; Lev 26:3438 ), although it needs to be made clear that these structures never appear at the opening of a piece of Hebrew literature. This is probably the most immediately helpful fruit of his labour, but for each language he finds other functions in these constructions also. At this point one criticism may be voiced: the "Table of Contents" (pp. xi-xxiii) offers a way to discover the forms and functions discerned for each language by including every numbered section for each chapter, but its extent makes it awkward for comparing one function across the range of languages (a couple of typographical faults add an initial obstacle). It would have been helpful if the constructions and functions of all the languages were tabulated to enable the reader who is not immersed in the study to see which are common to all, and which are peculiar to one or two. For studying Semitic syntax an examination of the constructions shared by the languages is essential. What is provided demonstrates very clearly and positively the way the constructions are used within each language individually. In Biblical Hebrew, Khan gives fifty-seven examples of the structures he finds, then fifty-eight to illustrate functions. He describes the "signalling of boundaries of spans of discourse" by extraposition (chap. 2 II.1., 1.2, pp. 80-86), then helpfully presents other means Hebrew uses to do the same job (pp. 86-88). Extraposition also indicates parallel and chiastic structures (e.g., Exod 4:16), anaphora (Ps 11:4), and "Contrastive assertion" as in Gen 15:4, "This one shall not inherit you, but the one who comes forth from your loins-he shall...