The Pragmatics of X+verb Structure in the Hebrew of Genesis

From the Introdiction: "This MA thesis deals with the Biblical Hebrew (henceforth BH) construction that is heretermed the X+verb structure. Against the neutral backdrop of a basic VSO word order2 inthe BH verbal clause, those clauses having preposed constituents must be considered markedconstructions. Arguments for basic (which is to say, pragmatically neutral) VSO word orderin Biblical Hebrew constitute the subject matter of Section 1. As defined in this paper, thefronted X element may consist of any intra-clausal verbal argument (e.g., subject, directobject, indirect object, adverbial of manner, time, place, et cetera).3 Further, the verb inquestion must be either a qatal or yiqtol form.4 Finally, as defined here, the X+verb structuremay be either syndetic or asyndetic (i.e. may appear either with or without a particle explicitlylinking it to the preceding clause5)..."