The Syntax of the Numeral "One" as a Noun Modifier in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Amoraic Period

Abstract

With regard to the syntax of the numeral one as a noun modifier in JPA, the MidrashicTalmudic corpus can be distinguished from the Targumic corpus. Both with respect to the form of the preferred syntagms and with respect to the function of the numeral one within the preferred syntagms can this differentiation be discerned. While in the preferred syntagms within the Targumic corpus, the numeral one stands in postposition in relation to its nominal head, in the Midrashic-Talmudic corpus, it stands in anteposition. While in the preferred syntagmb within the Targumic corpus, the numeral one functions as a quantifier, in the preferred syntagm within the Midrashic-Talmudic corpus, it functions as an indefinite article. In our previous study, we treated the numeral one as a noun modifier in the Targumic corpus of JPA.1 As we observed, the Targumic corpus demonstrates a decided preference for the postpositional use of the numeral in relation to its nominal head (176 cases or 93.1%) as over against its antepositional use (13 cases or 6.9%). Our analysis produced three well-established results: