Vince's Work in Progress
last updated 2026-April-22
Please have patience while I combine and reconstitute websites.
Note that unpublished papers are live documents.
You are welcome to use any material here as long as you cite it properly and give me constructive feedback.
This index will now include all papers on:
Doctoral Thesis
"On the Placement and Interpretation of the Verb
in Standard Biblical Hebrew Prose".
University of Toronto (1995).
[.pdf]
The thesis takes the so-called enigma of the Hebrew verbal system as a
problem in generative grammar. The formal model integrates phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatic/discourse analysis. Important
proposals include verb movement and topicalization in an SVO system, and
an alternative analysis of tense, mood and aspect. Both proposals have a
bearing on exegesis and discourse analysis.
Supervisors: John Revell, Elizabeth Cowper.
ISBN: 0-612-02741-4
Diss. Abstracts: AAT NN02741
ILLO University of Toronto: theses NEAST 1995 Ph.D. 6298 ROBA
The Syntax and Semantics
of the Biblical Hebrew Verb
The BH verb is a hierarchical bundle of features assembled by the syntactic operation of Merge and Move (Minimalism), and is realized at Spell-Out by a Vocabulary Item (Distributed Morphology).
Syntactically, BH finds a parallel in Old French: verb movement, symmetrical verb-second, and pro-drop.
Semantically, the core BH system is analogous to English: inflectional tense [past] and mood [aux],
while the -ing participle encodes aspect [progressive].
The modal consecutive system encodes [then], grammaticalized as in many of the world's languages.
The main tactic is to offload verbal meaning from the grammar proper to context (Radical Pragmatics).
- 2021. with Elizabeth Cowper. "A Unified Account of the Infinitive Absolute in Biblical Hebrew".
Pp. 103-124 in Linguistic Studies on Biblical Hebrew. Editied by Robert Holmstedt. Leiden: Brill.
- 2019. "Generalising Asymmetric Coordination with Resumptive Pronoun:
A Syntactic Analysis of Certain Dislocations in Biblical Hebrew". Journal for Semitics 28.2 (17 pages).
[.pdf]
- 2017. with Elizabeth Cowper. "Biblical Hebrew: A Formal Perspective on the Left Periphery".
Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics: vol. 38.
[.pdf]
- 2003. "Moveable Nun and Intrusive Nun in Biblical Hebrew: The Nature and Distribution of Verbal Nunation in Joel and Job".
Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages 29.1: 121-132.
[.pdf]
- 2001. "Hebrew Linguistics and Biblical Criticism: A Minimalist Programme".
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3.6.
[.pdf] (also published in Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures (2006))
- 2001. "The Syntactic Argument for the Waw-Consecutive in Old Aramaic". Vetus Testamentum 51.3: 381-385.
- 1999. "A Unified Analysis of Verbal and Verbless Clauses within Government-Binding Theory".
Pp. 109-131 in The Verbless Clause in Biblical Hebrew: Linguistic Approaches. Edited by Cynthia Miller. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns.
- 1999. "Distinctive Properties of the Biblical Hebrew Consecutives in Crosslinguistic Perspective:
Modal Coordination in Ancient Egyptian, Fula, Swahili and Zulu".
Niagara Linguistic Society (NLS99). State University of New York at Buffalo. 26 September.
- 1996. "Ewald and Driver on Biblical Hebrew "Aspect": Anteriority and the Orientalist Framework".
Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 9.2: 129-151.
[.pdf]
- 1995. "Tenseless Languages in Light of an Aspectual Parameter for Universal Grammar:
A Preliminary Cross-Linguistic Survey".
Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 14.2: 41-81.
[.pdf]
Work in Progress:
-
"Sequence and Consequence: The Syntax of the Modal Consecutive in Niger-Congo and Afroasiatic".
[notes]
-
-
back to index
Sing a New Song:
The Tetrameter in Biblical Hebrew Poetry
The goal is a generative grammar of biblical metre with a focus on the mashal metre in Job (all), Proverbs (most), Psalms (much), and elsewhere.
Conventional wisdom simply assumes that biblical metre is logogenic or prosodic (projected bottom-up).
That is a fatal assumption.
This book pursues the claim that the metre is instead
melogenic or melodic-temporal
(projected top-down).
Thus, biblical poetry is much like the vast treasury of traditional English verse.
The grammar is implemented as ranked text-setting constraints with the framework of Optimality Theory.
Front Matter
- Introduction to the Question of Metre in Biblical Poetry
- Declaring the Metrical Contract
- Fulfilling the Metrical Contract, I: Pss 111-112
- Fulfilling the Metrical Contract, II: Ps 136, etc.
- Metrical Grammar, I: Fundamentals
- Metrical Grammar, II: Advanced Topics
- Conclusion
Appendices
- Job
- Proverbs
- Psalms
Bibliography
Index
see also DeCaen (2009)
"Theme and Variation in Psalm 111: Phrase and Foot in Generative-Metrical Perspective"
back to index
Distributed Generative Masoretics (DGM):
A Programme in Tiberian Hebrew Phonology
back to index
John Revell Project:
Bibliography on Tiberian Phonology
back to index
Electronic Publications
-
DeCaen, Vincent, and B. Elan Dresher. 2020. "Pausal Forms and Prosodic Structure in Tiberian Hebrew".
Pp. 331-377 in Studies in Semitic Vocalisation and Reading Traditions,
Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures, no. 3.
Edited by Aaron D. Hornkohl and Geoffrey Khan. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.
[.pdf]
Distributed Generative Masoretics
- DGM I:
Tiberian Hebrew Metrical Phonology: Evidence from Musical Transformations
[.pdf]
- DGM II:
/CVC/ Clitics in Tiberian Aramaic
[.pdf]
- DGM III:
Tiberian Hebrew Postlexical Phonology:
Stress Retraction and External Gemination with Selah
[.pdf]
- DGM IV:
Tiberian Hebrew Postlexical Phonology:
Stress Retraction and External Gemination with the Demonstrative Zeh
[.pdf]
- DGM V:
Tiberian Hebrew External Gemination: A Generative Analysis of the Special Case of Segol
[.pdf]
- DGM VI:
Tiberian Hebrew Postlexical Phonology:
Stress Retraction and External Gemination with Verbs in -eh
[.pdf]
- DGM VII:
Tiberian Hebrew Stress Retraction
and the Two Rules of Contextualization"
[.pdf]
- DGM VIII:
[.pdf]
Manuscripts
- Review article [Hebrew lexicography] on
The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, edited by David A. J. Clines.
(2014). Hebrew Higher Education 16:197-217.
[.pdf]
- "Generalizing Asymmetric Coordination with Anaphoric Pronoun". (2017).
Boston SBL2017, S19-230.
[.pdf]
[.ppt]
- "On the Syntax and Semantics of the Biblical Hebrew Infinitive Absolute". (2014).
San Diego SBL2014, S22-230.
[.pdf]
[.ppt]
- "Octosyllabism in Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Toward a Tetrametrical Analysis". (2014).
San Diego SBL2014, S24-306.
[.pdf]
[.ppt]
-
"The Polar Question and the Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in
Biblical Hebrew: Genesis to Deuteronomy."
rough first draft, Gen-Deut for now (Dec 2011)
[.pdf]
- "Theme and Variation in Psalm 111: Phrase and Foot in Generative-Metrical
Perspective". (2009). Journal of Semitic Studies 54.1.
Pre-publication draft [.pdf]
- "On the Semantics of Modal Coordination in Biblical Hebrew: A Strictly
Compositional Approach to Truth-Functional Operators for Natural Language".
draft 2 (2001)
[.doc]
Generative Masoretics in Progress (2008-2020)
-
"Tiberian Hebrew Pause and the Past Tense: A Lexico-Semantic Contrast Revealed"
-or- "Tiberian Hebrew Has (At Least Four Vowels and Why It Matters)". (2019). San Diego SBL2019.
[.pdf][.ppt]
-
with Elan Dresher, "The Vowel System of Tiberian Hebrew". (2019). Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto Phonology/Phonetics Workshop (MOT2019).
[.ppt]
-
with Elan Dresher, "Pausal Forms and Prosodic Structure in Tiberian Hebrew". (2018). Denver SBL2018.
[.ppt]
-
with Elan Dresher, "Prosodic Dependency in Tiberian Hebrew". (2018).
Second Workshop on Biblical Hebrew Linguistics and Philology, Hebrew University, June 26-28, 2018.
[.ppt]
-
with Elan Dresher, "Pausal Forms and Prosodic Structure in Tiberian Hebrew". (2018).
Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto Phonology/Phonetics Workshop (MOT2018)
[.ppt]
-
"On the Formal Definition of "Long Word" in Tiberian Hebrew: Diagnostic,
Database, Generative Analysis, and Implications". (2009). Boston SBL2008.
[.pdf]
-
"A Taxonomy of Clitics in Tiberian Hebrew: Evidence from the Dechi
Phrase".
summary notes (Summer 2009)
[.pdf]
-
"On the Placement of Secondary Metheg (Musical Ga`ya) in
Tiberian Hebrew: Evidence from the Dechi Phrase".
summary notes (Summer 2009)
[.pdf]
-
"On the Nature and Distribution of Nesiga (Stress Retraction) in
Tiberian Hebrew: Evidence from the Dechi Phrase regarding
Simplification, Virtual Disjunctives and Align XP".
rough draft (Summer 2009)
[.pdf]
-
"The Eight Phonemic Vowels of Tiberian Hebrew: Evidence from Segholate
Nouns."
paper for revision (June 1999), with addenda (Oct 2011)
[.pdf]
-
"Collated List of Occurrences of Nesiga."
(August 2009)
[doc]
-
"A Prosodic Analysis of Stress-retraction (Nesiga) in Tiberian
Hebrew: Prosodic Structure and Optimality-theoretic Constraints".
proofs of concept (Aug/2009):
D3/D4
[doc],
Poetry
[pdf],
"Oddballs"
[pdf]
-
"The Dark Matter of Hebrew Poetry: A Generative-metrical Analysis of the Biblical
Tetrameter, With an Application to Psalms 111-112, Proverbs 31:10-31, and Lamentations
5".
rough circulation draft (April 2011)
[.pdf]
-
"Toward a Prosodic-Phrasing Algorithm for Tiberian Hebrew."
draft 9 (June 2011)
[.pdf]
-
"On the Intonational Phrase in Tiberian Hebrew: The Nature and Distribution of Pausal
Phonology".
rough circulation draft (June 2011)
[.pdf]
-
"A Biblical Hebrew Iambic Tetrameter: Proof of Concept Psalm 111".
revised submission draft, currently out to referees (Nov 2011)
[.pdf]
back to index
Information Studies (2006-2007)
-
"Investigating the Value of Qualitative Citation Analysis for the Work
of Academic Reference Librarians: A Case Study in Feminist Geography."
[.doc]
-
"La Trahison des Bibliothécaires: A Century of
Collection-Development Philosophy."
[.doc]
-
"There is no F in QWERTY: On the Locking-in of KE Classification Three
Decades Later."
[.doc]
Now appearing in the Canadian Law Library Review
33.5:445-448..
-
"Margaret Bloy Graham (1920- )."
[.doc]
-
"On the Child's Right to Information under Articles 13 and 17 of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Public
Librarian's Moral Obligation to Both Empower and Protect."
[.doc]
-
"Information Malpractice: Understanding the Liabilities of the
Independent Information Professional (IIP)."
[.doc]
-
"Knowledge Management as Trojan Horse: Subversive Aspects of an Age-old
Concept."
[.doc]
back to index
Finance and Macroeconomics (2001-2003)
Friedberg's Commodity and Currency Comments
(FCCC)
An exhaustive bibliography is provided.
To read the papers, contact
Friedberg Mercantile Group directly,
or visit your reference library.
back to index
decaen at decaen dot ca