Word Order in Biblical Aramaic

C.E. Hayes

Standard grammars and word order studies fail to account for word order patterns in Biblical Aramaic. In this study of 162 verbal clauses in Daniel, I demonstrate that the conventional view of (S)OV as unmarked word order in Biblical Aramaic must be modified. I identify a co-occurring word order--(S)VO--which must be considered unmarked word order within specific parameters: clauses that contain a morphologically marked and/or a complex object tend to exhibit VO word order. Regardless of diachronic development, OV and VO are synchronically co-occurring word orders. Hence, violations of the one order must not be construed as reassertions of the other and must be independently explained.

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