Approaching the mountain of Exodus 19: thou shalt explore syntax first

Abstract

The objective of the research presented in this paper is to expand our existing database of Biblical Hebrew text with data and data structures to have an instrument that will allow a researcher access to various patterns of linguistic phenomena, such as patterns of clause relations, patterns of verbal valence and patterns of participant tracking in texts. It is the area where linguistic analysis and literary analysis meet and even have a considerable overlap. The question is: where can distributional linguistic analysis of patterns and system bring us? Identifying participants is in fact a part of a larger area of text-level research area of experimenting with pattern recognition and the assignment of linguistic functions to particular categories of data distribution. It appears, first, that pattern recognition as a technique to expand the database of classical Hebrew texts with more ‘functional’ features is effective. And, second, that this type of research is best approached from different angles at the same time: text grammar, valence research and participant tracking.