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# Hebrew Linguistics and Biblical Criticism: A Minimalist Programme

**Authors:** Vincent DeCaen · **Year:** 2001 · **Venue:** Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3, art. 6 **Link:** [jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/5967](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/5967) · library `hbo-2001-caen-hebrew-linguistics-biblical-criticism-minimalist` · **Licence:** [CC BY 2.5](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/)

[**3** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2005134755) openalex · 2026-10-19[Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3](https://openalex.org/S2764683527)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6)
- [PDF](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/5967/5020)
- [DOI 10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2005134755)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Vincent De Caën](https://openalex.org/A5048187810) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/134829374) · h 1 · 3 citations · 3 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-19); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

A polemical first half calls for a "minimalist" historical linguistics of Hebrew, independent of theological dating. The second half is a concrete case. In Qumran Hebrew two changes act on the first-person wayyiqtol: apocopation of final-weak verbs (*wayyivke* > *wayyevk*) and spread of the modal ending ־ָה to all first-person forms (*wāʾextov* > *wāʾextəvâ*). Yet final-weak first-person forms keep their ־ה, as if immune to both. DeCaen resolves it by rule ordering: apocopation came first, then the suffix re-added a ־ה that now spells *-a*, not *-e*. This predicts an apparent "return" of final ה over time. He cross-tabulates the two rates book by book, finds the prediction met in roughly datable prophets, and then places Pentateuchal sources and other books on the same two-dimensional profile.

## Ideas

- I1. Compute DeCaen's two rates for each Torah book, and for each source block if a source division is loaded: (x) share of final-weak 1st-person wayyiqtol written with final ה; (y) share of strong-root 1st-person wayyiqtol with the ־ָה suffix.
- I2. Put the 2×2 profile into the dating section as an example of a measurable diachronic variable, with counts from our data and the date.
- I3. Lesson for the converter: the same final ה can be a vowel letter or a suffix; a morphological rule must decide by root class, not by spelling.

## For Mova

I1 is a measure on torah-wlc-macula using `HebBinyan`, person and MISC `Type=wayyiqtol` (the Torah has few 1st-person narrative forms, mostly in Deuteronomy; report the n). I2 goes into [12. Biblical, Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew compared](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/12-biblical-mishnaic-modern/) (dating debate); I3 into `07-weak-verbs.md` (III-he) and any future Hebrew analyser.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6)

```
@article{caen2001hebrew,
  title = {{Hebrew Linguistics and Biblical Criticism: A Minimalist Programme}},
  author = {Caën, Vincent De},
  journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 3},
  year = {2001},
  doi = {10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2001.v3.a6}
}
```

- [← previous The Linguistic Description and Analysis of 2 Samuel 11–12 From The Perspective of Functional Grammar In the Tradition of Simon Dik](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2000-anstey-linguistic-description-analysis-2-samuel/)
- [next → Undisclosed Speech: Patterns of Communication in the Book of Isaiah](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2003-liss-undisclosed-speech-patterns-communication-book/)
- [↑ back to Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/)

## References

40 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

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