[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2018-naude-interface-syntax-prosody-differentiating-left/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [docs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/) / [papers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/) / [Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/) / At the interface of syntax and prosody: Differentiating left dislocated and tripartite verbless clauses in Biblical Hebrew # At the interface of syntax and prosody: Differentiating left dislocated and tripartite verbless clauses in Biblical Hebrew **Authors:** [Jacobus A. Naudé](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/jacobus-a-naude/), [Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/cynthia-l-miller-naude/) · **Year:** 2017 (indexed 2018) · **Venue:** Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 48, 223–238 **Link:** [doi.org/10.5774/48-0-293](https://doi.org/10.5774/48-0-293) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) [**28** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2786747068) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[**4** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/hbo-2018-naude-interface-syntax-prosody-differentiating-left/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics](https://openalex.org/S4210167496)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5774/48-0-293) - [PDF](https://spil.journals.ac.za/pub/article/download/293/249) - [DOI 10.5774/48-0-293](https://doi.org/10.5774/48-0-293) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2786747068) **Authors (2)** 1. [Jacobus A. Naudé](https://openalex.org/A5058740558) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8680-0476) · h 13 · 653 citations · 151 works 2. Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about The "tripartite" verbless clause has two noun phrases and a third-person pronoun (PRON), as in "the LORD, he (is) God" (Deut 4:35). PRON has been read as a copula, as the resumption of a left-dislocated subject, or as either depending on pragmatics (Holmstedt and Jones 2014). The authors argue that it is neither a copula nor always resumptive, but a "last resort" pronominal clitic that supplies subject agreement when the predicate is itself a referring phrase, so that subject and predicate are not confused. They decide each case by the Masoretic accents as prosodic evidence: in a true tripartite clause the subject and PRON form one prosodic unit (a conjunctive accent or maqqef, PRON often unaccented), while a left-dislocated subject is cut off by a disjunctive accent and the pronoun has its own accent. Re-examining Holmstedt and Jones's lists, a sizeable share of their cases come out the other way. ## Ideas - I1. Use the accent between the first NP and the pronoun as the decision rule: conjunctive or maqqef → tripartite clause (PRON attached as `cop` or `expl`, one clause); disjunctive → left dislocation (`dislocated` first NP, pronoun as `nsubj`). Count both classes in the Torah. - I2. Apply the same accent test to other ambiguities the paper cites: attributive vs predicative participle (Deut 26:5, a disjunctive on the first word means subject + predicate) and quote boundaries (Isa 40:3). - I3. Measure how often the trees' current attachment agrees with the accent-based reading, and against PTNK. ## For Mova I1 and I3 are a rule and a measure in `tools/macula` (the accent class of each word is in MACULA's data), documented in [Syntax: the clause and the sentence](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) (verbless clauses, dislocation) and `02-cantillation.md` (accents as syntax). I2 gives `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` a cue for where a quote starts, and the examples go into chapter 2. ## Cite The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5774/48-0-293](https://doi.org/10.5774/48-0-293) ``` @inproceedings{naude2018at, title = {{At the interface of syntax and prosody: Differentiating left dislocated and tripartite verbless clauses in Biblical Hebrew}}, author = {Naudé, Jacobus A. and Miller-Naudé, Cynthia L.}, booktitle = {Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.5774/48-0-293}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5774/48-0-293} } ``` - [← previous The Evolution of Biblical Hebrew Linguistics in South Africa: The Last 60 Years](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2018-naude-evolution-biblical-hebrew-linguistics-south/) - [next → Rhotic Phonemes in Semitic Languages – The Case of Classical Arabic and Biblical Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2018-pietrzak-rhotic-phonemes-semitic-languages-case/) - [↑ back to Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/) ## References 3 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Albrecht, C. 1887. Die Wortstellung im hebräischen Nominalsatze. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 7: 218-224. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1515/zatw.1887.7.1.218b) 2. Albrecht, C. 1888. Die Wortstellung im hebräischen Nominalsatze: Teil II. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 8: 249-263. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1515/zatw.1887.7.1.218b) 3. Andersen, F. I. 1970. The Hebrew verbless clause in the Pentateuch. Journal of Biblical Literature Monograph Series 14. New York and Nashville: Abingdon. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Andersen%2C+F%2E+I%2E+1970%2E+The+Hebrew+verbless+clause+in+the+Pentateuch%2E+Journal+of+Biblical+Literature+Monograph+Series+14%2E+New+York+and+Nashville%3A+Abingdon%2E)