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# Paragraphs as episodes: distinguishing paragraphs in Biblical Hebrew narrative text on the basis of linguistic devices

**Authors:** Chang-Keol Yoo · **Year:** 2008 · **Venue:** thesis, Stellenbosch University (SUNScholar) **Link:** [scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/2818](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/2818) · not in the library (download failed, 2026-10-17) · **Licence:** free to read, no CC licence — summary only

SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)

- [Publisher's page](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/2818)
- [PDF](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstreams/0c2ff906-0c68-48e2-ba74-a736906feacb/download)

**Authors (1)**

1. Chang-Keol Yoo

Citations and author metrics from OpenAlex (); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

**Not read: the PDF could not be fetched.** From the title: the thesis treats a narrative paragraph as an episode (a unit of one setting, one set of participants, one action sequence) and asks which linguistic devices signal its boundaries — likely candidates are וַיְהִי with a temporal phrase, a change of time or place, the (re)introduction of participants with full noun phrases, a break in the wayyiqtol chain (x-qatal, verbless clauses), and closing summaries. Check against the text.

## Ideas

- I1. (to check) A paragraph-boundary scorer on the Torah trees: one point each for marker וַיְהִי, a time or place change, a full-NP subject switch, and a chain break before the clause; evaluate against the Masoretic petuchah/setumah marks (precision and recall).
- I2. Report which single device predicts the Masoretic boundaries best; that device becomes the first rule.

## For Mova

I1–I2 belong to [Discourse: narrative, speech and the shape of a text](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/09-discourse/) §8 (paragraphs and section markers) and to a paragraph step in `tools/macula`, using the Masoretic marks as gold (if the WLC data carries them; otherwise as a gap to fill). Re-read once the PDF is in.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```
@inproceedings{yoo2008paragraphs,
  title = {{Paragraphs as episodes: distinguishing paragraphs in Biblical Hebrew narrative text on the basis of linguistic devices}},
  author = {Yoo, Chang-Keol},
  booktitle = {SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)},
  year = {2008},
  url = {https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/2818}
}
```

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