Witthoff David James. The relationships of the senses of נֶפֶשׁ in the Hebrew Bible: A cognitive linguistic perspective

Stellenbosch University, 2021. — 253 p.The purpose of this study is to examine the biblical Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ in terms of a cognitive semantic (CS) working model in order to determine the relationships of its senses. This examination includes how and why the senses of נֶפֶשׁ extend into new senses. Past research has described the senses of נֶפֶשׁ well, to which the study turns to first in chapter two. This section examines lexica, theological dictionaries, and other monographs that discuss the uses of נֶפֶשׁ. The lexica provide a basis for compiling a provisional list of senses. The theological dictionaries expand our understanding by providing more information about potential frames of use for the different senses of נֶפֶשׁ. More recently, the studies of De Blois (2010) and Müller (2018) provide a preview of how CS may open the door to more detailed analysis of נֶפֶשׁ. De Blois’ model suggests that extension types should be based on key attributes of a term. The study examines cognitive linguistic theory in chapter three, and it focuses first on key tenets of CS and past applications of CS to biblical Hebrew. Then, topics within CS are explored with an aim towards building a working model for the analysis of נֶפֶשׁ. Categorization and prototype theory establish how humans conceptualize their world and the terms we use. Prototype theory further explains how categories have “fuzziness” at their borders. The theory of embodiment expresses how physical existence mediates and shapes human cognition, including language. One of the primary insights of embodiment is that humans use the body as a source for numerous semantic extensions, though cultural models play a role as well. Finally, the theory of grammaticalization shows how lexical items may lose semantic content and develop grammatical functions. From these theories, a working semantic model is presented with targets to guide the analysis in chapter four. In the fourth chapter, I conduct an empirical analysis of all 754 instances of נֶפֶשׁ in the Hebrew Bible. The empirical analysis distinguishes senses, extension types and motivations, contextual domains, and the relationships between senses and contextual domains. The following are the key findings of this study: (1) The already known range of senses can be explained through a radial map, but such a map has limitations; (2) The semantic extensions of נֶפֶשׁ follow cross-linguistic attested extension paths, but also exhibit aspects of unique “language-specific” changes; (3) There are some signs of grammaticalization in the uses of נֶפֶשׁ becoming like a pronoun, but the use of נֶפֶשׁ rather than a pronoun may still be explained by a common frame of danger and life-in-need; (4) there is potential for further semasiological studies of body-part terms related to נֶפֶשׁ. These studies could then be used for a more sophisticated onomasiological study. Such a study could reveal where senses between terms overlap and help one to appreciate the unique profile of each term (e.g., a speaker of biblical Hebrew typically desires with their ֶ נפֶשׁ , but not their לֵב)