Verb Ranking in Hebrew Narrative
Shawn Madden, Ph.D.
Terms: 
On the Storyline or on-the-line
Off the Storyline or off-the-line
Preterite - a vav consecutive verb which serves as the special narrative tense.
Verb Clause - a clause that begins with a Hebrew verb
Noun Clause - a clause that begins with a noun (even if a verb follows somewhere in the clause)
Narrative - a segment of text that is the telling of the story, a narration of events or an occurance.
Direct Speech - a segment of text that is the words of someone speaking. In translation it would be encompassed by quotes and is usually introduced by rm,aoYw: or another speech act verb. Called discourse by some grammarians (Sailhamer) and reported speech by others (Clendenen).
Clause - “Biblical Hebrew statement, the heart of which is a subject and predicate unit.” Rocine notes that there are two basic types; an independent clause which can stand alone as a Hebrew sentence and a dependent clause which cannot stand as a complete thought and must be grammatically tied to another independent clause.

Madden’s hints (not rules!) to clausal division identification:
1.	Accents (disjunctive; primarily Silluq/soph-pasuq [of course], athnah, zaqeph qaton, etc.)
2.	VAV
3.	Fronted verb
4.	New subject and verb

Hebrew Verb Forms

qatal	Basic Hebrew Verb Form. Also known as the Perfect or the Suffixed form	
yiqtol	Basic Hebrew verb form. Also known as the Imperfect or the Prefixed form	
wayyiqtol	Particle w attached to the imperfect/prefixed form with a patach under the w and a dagesh in the following prefix. Longacre calls this the Preterite. He and Sailhamer identify this as a Basic Hebrew Verb Form.	
weqatal	Particle w> attached to the perfect/suffixed form	
weyiqtol	Particle w> attached to the imperfect/prefixed form	

Additionally identified are (w)x-qatal constructions where a nominal comes before a qatal form of the verb.
Longacre notes that “A chain of (necessarily verb-initial) clauses that contain preterites is the backbone of any Old Testament story; all other clause types contribute various kinds of supportive, descriptive, and depictive materials. In the cases of clauses that begin with a noun (and therefore cannot contain a verb in the preterite), such background material serves to introduce or highlight something about the noun in question, whether it refers to a participant or to a prop in the story. Clauses that begin with a non-preterite (perfect) verb portray secondary actions; for example, actions what are in some sense subsidiary to the main action, which is described by a following preterite. On occasion, a verb in the perfect (whether or not [the clause] begins with a noun) is repetition or paraphrase of some action already reported as a preterite on the storyline.”
He also notes “The special status of hyh ‘be’ by writing that “It is immediately necessary, however, to qualify the above hypothesis in one important particular. The verb haya [hyh], ‘be’, even in its preterite form wahi [yhyw] ‘and it happened’, does not function on the storyline of a narrative. In this respect, the behavior of Hebrew is similar to that of a great many contemporary languages around the world. . . . This is simple [sic] a peculiarity of the verb be in many languages past and present.”

Longacre’s Discourse Type charts

Verb Rank in Narrative Discourse	
Band Levels	Hebrew Clausal Elements	
Band 1:
Storyline	1. Preterite: primarya	
Band 2:
Background Actions	2.1. Perfect
2.2. Noun + perfect (with noun in focus)	
Band 3:
Background Activities	3.1.  הִנֵּה + participle
3.2. Participle
3.3. Noun + participle	
Band 4:
Setting	4.1. Preterite of  היה , ‘be’
4.2. Perfect of היה, ‘be’
4.3. Nominal clause (verbless)
4.4. Existential clause withיֵשׁ  	
Band 5:	5. Negation of verb clause: irrealis (any band)b	
a1. demotes to 2.2. by preposing a noun. 1. demotes to 5. by preposingלאֹ   ‘not’ [Preterite > Perfect].
b “Momentous negation” promotes 5. to 2.1./2.2.	

Verb Rank in Predictive Discourse	
Band Levels	Hebrew Clausal Elements	
Band 1:
Line of Prediction	1.1. ו  (consecutive) perfecta	
Band 2:
Backgrounded Predictions	2.1. Imperfect
2.2. Noun + imperfect (with noun in focus)	
Band 3:
Backgrounded Activities	3.1.הִנֵּה   + participle
3.2. Participle
3.3. Noun + participle	
Band 4:
Setting	4.1. ו (consecutive) perfect of היה, ‘be’
4.2. Imperfect of היה, ‘be’
4.3. Nominal clause (verbless)
4.4. Existential clause with vyE	
a1. demotes to 2.1 by preposingלאֹ  , ‘not’, and to 2.2. by preposing a noun.	

Diagram 6. Verb Rank in Hortatory Discourse	
Band Levels	Hebrew Clausal Elements	
Band 1:
Primary line of Exhortation	
}

1.1. Imperative (2p
1.2. Cohortative (1p)	 unranked
1.3. Jussive (3p)a	
Band 2:
Secondary line of Exhortation	2.1.אָל   + jussive/imperfect
2.2. Modal imperfect (cf. GKC §107m)	
Band 3:
Results/Consequences (Motivation)	3.1.  ו(consecutive) perfectb
3.2.לאֹ   פֵּן+ imperfect
3.3. (Future) Perfect	
Band 4:
Setting (Problem)	4.1. Perfect (of past events)
4.2. Participles
4.3. Nominal clauses	
a1.3 substitutes for 1.1 in deferential avoidance of 2p.
b 3.1 may substitute for band 1—but this possibility involves substitutions of the form of predictive discourse.	

Expository Text-Type Verb-Rank Cline	
Band Levels	Hebrew Clausal Elements	
Band 1:
Primary line of Exposition	1.1 Nominal clause (verbless)
  1.2 Existential clause (withאֵן  orיֵשׁ )	
Band 2:
Secondary line of Exposition	[Clauses with היה]	
Band 3:		
Band 4:
Contest/Setting	[Here we would expect to find those clause types which have the greatest amount of action and transitivity]	

What isTextlinguistics?
by E. Ray Clendenen, Ph.D.
(with additions by Shawn Madden, Ph.D.)

The study of grammar is the study of rules or linguistic conventions that govern the choices an author or speaker makes in a certain language. Textlinguistics, the study of how language operates in texts, is often referred to as discourse analysis since its focus is on how the larger text or discourse influences choices on the sentence level. It is based on the recognition that the grammar of a language extends beyond the clause and sentence to the paragraph and the entire discourse.
Discourse type
Studies in biblical hermeneutics commonly recognize that there are distinctive “rules” of interpretation that apply to the various genres or literary forms such as narratives, laws, speeches, hymns, proverbial wisdom, prophetic literature, letters, and so forth. The textlinguist believes that certain types of discourses in a language have certain rules or conventions that serve as general constraints on how a particular discourse should be put together. An author also calls upon certain linguistic devices (like a craftsman reaching into a toolbox) to help him organize the discourse and its parts in order to achieve his purpose. The type of discourse even exercises constraints on how certain clause types and verb forms in that discourse are most likely to function. 
Since the field of textlinguistics is relatively new (the second half of the twentieth century) and its application to biblical Hebrew is even newer, there is still much debate over what are the major discourse types in biblical Hebrew literature and how the various grammatical forms function within those types. Some would divide biblical Hebrew into narrative and reported speech. Others recognize several types. A minimal inventory of discourse types would seem to include narrative, predictive, descriptive, and hortatory discourse. Discourses come in all sizes and can be embedded in other discourses, such as a hortatory speech embedded in a narrative or a narrative embedded in a hortatory speech.
Discourse types may be conveniently described as they appear on the paragraph level. A discourse type is defined primarily by its grammatical structure. 

A paragraph may be identified as narrative if its independent clauses 

(1) mainly use waw-consecutive preterites 
(2) whose subjects refer to one or more agents involved in one or more actions 
(3) taking place in the past. 

Its function is to give an account of actions or events in the past. 

A paragraph may be identified as predictive if its independent clauses
(1) mainly use waw-perfects 
(2) whose subjects refer to one or more agents involved in one or more actions 
(3) taking place in the future. 

Its function is to give an account of actions or events in the future. 

A similar type sometimes distinguished from the predictive is the procedural discourse. It also uses mainly waw-perfects, but their subject is usually a generic individual being instructed in a repeatable series of steps focusing on an overall process. Its function is to describe how something is to be done.

A paragraph whose independent clauses are verbless (including vyE “there is” and !yae “there is not”) or use as the main verb a form of hy"h', a participle, an imperfect, or a characteristic (or habitual) perfect, often with the subject preceding the verb, is a descriptive/expository paragraph. Its function is to describe or explain a topic. It is often found at the beginning of a narrative (and sometimes a predictive) discourse as a description of the setting for the following account. It is also used to describe a situation that the author of a hortatory discourse is calling to be changed. 

A paragraph may be identified as hortatory if its independent clauses 
(1) contain one or more command forms—imperative, cohortative, jussive, or obligatory imperfect—
(2) which call upon someone to change their attitude or behavior. 
Its function, then, is to command or propose a change in someone’s attitude or behavior.

In a paragraph containing a reported speech, the reported speech should be considered separately as an embedded paragraph. The larger paragraph, for example, may be narrative or predictive, whereas the reported speech is an embedded paragraph that may be hortatory or any other discourse type.

Foreground/Background
The semantic propositions expressed in a paragraph may be identified grammatically as belonging to one of at least three levels of prominence. The main clauses/sentences of a paragraph may be said to constitute the mainline or backbone of the paragraph. These are the main independent clauses referred to above, which distinctive verb forms depending on the discourse type. 
Sometimes certain propositions may be grammatically marked as elevated in prominence because they are climactic or pivotal. Whereas the mainline of a narrative, for example, uses waw-consecutive preterites, a climactic or pivotal clause might use a waw-perfect form (e.g., 1 Kgs. 20:21). Another way of marking a clause as climactic is by adding certain forms such as hT'ä[;w> “and now,” or (in hortatory) …Wkl. “come on!” (e.g., Gen 37:20). This is an example of 
the basic principle of marking climax in a paragraph, or even more in a discourse, by including forms or constructions that are somewhat unusual for that discourse type.
More common than climactic propositions are those that are marked as background. These function as supportive to the mainline propositions. In a narrative paragraph, an independent clause using a perfect verb form describes a background action or secondary storyline. Even less prominent in narrative would be a participle clause describing an ongoing activity. Sentences describing the setting of a narrative (or predictive) paragraph or the situation of a hortatory paragraph may be understood as an embedded descriptive paragraph, whose contents naturally serve as background. In any discourse type, a subordinate (dependent) clause, by its very nature is background. This includes clauses such as 
1.	circumstantial,  ~d,Q<+mi ~['äs.n"B. yhiÞy>w:¥ “And as they migrated from the east…” (Gen. 11:2).
2.	adverbial, hm'êd'a]h'ä-la, ‘^b.Wv) d[;Û “until you return to the ground” (Gen 3:19).
3.	relative,  hf'([' rv<ïa] “which he had done” (Gen 2:2).
4.	causal, hT'a;ê rp"å['-yKi “for you are dust” (Gen. 3:19). 
5.	conditional, ~t'_ao rPoæs.li lk;ÞWT-~ai “if you are able to count them” (Gen 15:5).
6.	final, …Wnymiêa]y: ![;m;äl. “so that they might believe” (Ex 4:5).

and so forth.

In a predictive paragraph, less prominent predictions are expressed in clauses using imperfects. In a descriptive paragraph, independent clauses that use participles, imperfects, or characteristic perfects are probably to be considered somewhat backgrounded since they are more dynamic than verbless or hy"h' clauses. 
In a hortatory paragraph, the backbone consists of all the independent clauses with command forms. If the situation to be changed is expressed, it will be backgrounded as an embedded descriptive paragraph (see above). If motivation is given for the commands, it may be expressed in subordinate causal clauses or in embedded paragraphs. If expressed by embedded paragraphs, these may be predictive, offering future warning or incentive, or they may be narrative, reminding of past events.
Word Order
Except in descriptive discourse, normal word order in a Hebrew independent clause is VERB-SUBJECT-OBJECT/COMPLEMENT (although certain elements such as negatives and pronominal indirect objects can disrupt this order). Textlinguists seek to explain the features of a clause in terms of influences outside the clause. For example, deviation from normal word order in narrative by placing the subject or object before a qatal verb form is often explained by such discourse strategies as:

1.	identifying a new topic,  hd,êF'h; tY:åx; ‘lKomi ~Wrê[' hy"åh' ‘vx'N"h;w> “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field” (Gen. 3:1; cf. 39:1). Longacre would identify this as setting.
or showing a relationship with the previous clause, viz., 

1.	contrast, `hm'(d'a] dbeî[o hy"ßh' !yIq;§w> “but Cain was a worker of the ground” (Gen 4:2; cf. 6:8; 13:12; 31:47).
2.	amplification, `~t'(ao ar'îB' hb'Þqen>W rk"ïz" “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27; cf. 19:3).
3.	or paraphrase. `ydI(y"B. !t:ïn" Alà-vy<-rv,a] lkoïw> “and everything that belongs to him he has given into my hand” (Gen 39:8).

But its effect is also to “demote” the proposition to a less prominent role, either off the storyline yai_ro yx;Þl; raEïB. aABêmi aB'ä ‘qx'c.yIw> “Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi” (Gen 24:62; cf. 31:19,25,34).