Semantic Patterns in the D Stem in the Syriac Bible
[Thesis]
Lupu, Alexandra
Cook, Edward M
The Catholic University of America
2020
299
Ph.D.
The Catholic University of America
2020
The D stem verbal conjugation has traditionally been understood to express an intensive function compared to the G stem, which is considered the most basic conjugation in Semitic verbal systems. However, scholars have increasingly recognized that the actual uses attested for D stem verbs cannot all be convincingly subsumed under the label 'intensive'. This study seeks both to describe the different meanings of the D stem in the Peshitta, the Syriac translation of the Bible; and to elucidate any underlying patterns that may explain the acceptability of these different usages. The investigation entails, first, a representative survey of roots attested in both the G and D stem finite forms; and second, a linguistically rigorous analysis of this survey, grounded in current theories of semantic composition, argument structure, transitivity, and verbal plurality, all of which play a role in the usage of the D stem. By applying a broader definition of transitivity than is traditionally invoked, comprising multiple parameters-including clause valency, agentivity of the subject, object affectedness and individuation, and mode and lexical aspect of the verb-all of which contribute to the overall transitivity of a verb, this study explains a large fraction of D stems as higher-transitivity counterparts of the G stem. When the D stem acts on stative and some intransitive G stems, this heightened transitivity produces a more agentive, higher valence factitive verb. The D stem of transitive achievement G stems, meanwhile, either takes on a resultative nuance or encodes plural action, often against multiple direct objects. The study shows how both resultativity and pluractionality involve elements of higher transitivity. When the G stem does not fall into a category that readily accepts a higher transitivity D stem counterpart, the D stem is used to accommodate semantic variants. Even so, many of these D stems exhibit features of heightened transitivity, though they may not be manifested consistently. What therefore emerges from a consideration of the D stem as a whole is that its functions within the Peshitta exist along a continuum, and they depend on the type of G stem that the D stem modifies.