This PhD research project investigates the semantics of motion verbs in Biblical Hebrew from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective.
Its aim is to achieve a better understanding of Biblical Hebrew lexical semantics through current linguistic theories, in particular the framework of Holistic Spatial Semantics. Through a closed set of semantic categories that constitute a motion situation, this framework analyzes linguistic utterances describing such events and compares differences between languages.
Previous research on motion event typology has revealed different patterns in how languages distribute the semantic categories over the elements in these utterances. Through this comparison and analysis, it is possible to assess the meaning of motion situation expressions in Biblical Hebrew through the very prominent class of motion verbs. This method allows to study the language in its own right, without mediation of translation and the biases of structurally different languages. The analysis shows that lexical variation in Biblical Hebrew reflects different conceptualizations, thus explaining why the same situation may be expressed by various verbs, as well as why different situations can be described by the same verb. A more accurate understanding of these verbs brings us closer to the many situations they describe in the Hebrew Bible.
More about this Research Project
Start/end Date
1 January 2023–31 December 2026
Team
Leader: Jorik (F.J.) Groen
Promotor: Prof. dr. Willem Th. van Peursen
Co-promotor: Dr. Benjamin D. Suchard
Team: Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer / Digital Approaches to Sacred Texts
Fund
School-funded PhD position (AIO)