"POINTING TO THE ACCENTS IN THE SCROLL": FUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE

MASORETIC ACCENTS IN THE HEBREW BIBLE

Author(s): Sung Jin Park
Source: Hebrew Studies, Vol. 55 (2014), pp. 73-88
Published by: National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH)
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"POINTING TO THE ACCENTS IN THE SCROLL":

FUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASORETIC ACCENTS
IN THE HEBREW BIBLE
SungJinPark
Midwestern
Baptist
Theological
Seminary
Itiswidely
that
theaccents
havethree
recognized
developed
bytheMasoretes
functions:
and(3) punctuation.
notations,
theymark(1) stress,
(2) musical
inwhich
theorder
thesefunctions
remains
contestable.
However,
developed
Thepresent
demonstrates
thatindication
of stressed
wasa
study
syllables
rather
thanprimary
function
thatbecame
dominant
ata relatively
secondary
latestage.Itis mostlikely
thatthepunctuational
function
oftheaccents
for
recitation
relational
divisions
ofa unit.Thentheaccents
gaverisetoother
cametobeusedforcantillation
inaddition
topunctuation,
thisnever
although
intoa system
ofmusical
notation.
Themasoretic
accents
that
fully
developed
we knowarethusreflective
of an unfinished
transition
to suchnotation,
intended
forsinging,
from
forrecitation.
punctuation
designed
1. Three Functions of the Masoretic Accents
Thereare two systemsof accentuation
in the Masoreticmanuscripts
of
theHebrewBible: one used in the"ThreeBooks"- Psalms,Proverbs,
and
Job(exceptforthenarrative
portionof Job,1:1-3:1 and42:7-17)- and the
otherin all of theremaining
material.The presentstudyexaminesonlythe
the same in
latter,simplersystem,althoughbothof themare functionally
termsof the issues to be discussedhere.Concerning
the functions
of the
masoreticaccentuation
system,nearlyall scholarsagree thatthe accents
have threedistinctive
functions.1
The firstis to indicatestress,withthe
markerusuallyplaced above or below the main stressedsyllableof each
word. As in manyotherlanguages,stressin the masoreticaccentuation
1W.Wiekes,
A Treatise
ontheAccentuation
So-Called
Prose
Books
oftheTwenty-One
oftheOld
Testament
n"DK
naoniDnao"Dltnpon
Clarendon,
(London:
1887),
pp.1-2;M.Breuer,
"oyu
(The
accents
ofthe
in
Bible the
books
andthe
three
Jerusalem:
twenty-one
books;
Mikhlalah,
1982),
pp.3-9;I.
Introduction
to
the
Tiberian
Masorah
Scholars
Yeivin,
5;Missoula:
(SBLMS
Press,
1980),
p. 178;M.
andLinguistic
TheSyntactic
BasisofMasoretic
Hebrew
Aronoff,
"Orthography
Theory:
Punctuation,"
61
D.
M.
The
Masoretic
Chant
the
Bible
Rubin
32-36; Weil,
Language(1985):
of
(Jerusalem:
Mass,
1985),
"Hebrew
Accents
andGreek
inStudies
inEastern
Chant
p.4;E.J.Revell,
Neumes,"
Ekphonetic
(ed.M.
London:
Oxford
D.
B.
'The
Rare
Velimirovi;
Accents
of
Press,
4:140-170; Weisberg,
University
1979),
the
56(1966):
"AGrammar
ofthe
Biblical
Accents"
Books,"
317;N.Janis,
Twenty-One
JQR
diss.,
(Ph.D.
Harvard
toW.Wiekes,
TwoTreatises
onthe
1987),
University,
pp.3-6;A. Dotan,
prolegomenon
Accentuation
OldTestament
(Jerusalem:
Ktav,
ofthe
1970),
pp.vii-viii.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

74

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

thatis,themeaningof a wordcan be changeddependsystemis phonemic,

Forexample,
ingon whichsyllableis stressed.2
ua

VMtd wty

vm 'b notfi

Thenhisbrothers
saidtohim,"Areyouactually
overus?Or
goingtoreign
toruleoverus?"(Gen37:8).
areyoureally
going
:DTn
ITTITvi
>": ua
JV
-JVwarrnKi
AT
- v:
IT nute
thetower
that
menhadbuilt(Gen11:5).
>a>n
'HM
When
thesunhadset(Gen15:17).
uta
Vrn
- :
J-Tham
ITTiiHa
iscoming
Rachel
hisdaughter
Behold,
(Gen29:6).
in Biblical
Since the positionof the stressis phonologicallysignificant
Hebrew,it is reasonableto supposethatmarkingits positionwouldbe an
role forany diacriticalsystem.Markingstress,however,should
important
ofthemasoretic
theprimary
function
accentuation
notbe considered
system
theMasoreteswouldnothaveneededso
since,ifthisweretheonlyfunction,
accentsforindicating
stressovereach
accents.Furthermore,
manydifferent
wordcannotbe foundat theearlystageoftheBabylonianMasorahas well
Masorah.3In fact,even in theTiberiansystem,
as in theProto-Palestinian
or prepositive
somepostpositive
accents,suchas segolta, dechi,and telisha
arenotmarkedoverorbelowthestressedsyllables.
of accentsis a later
For thisreason,Wernersuggeststhatthisfunction
that
some
PalestinianmanuIt
is
worth
however,
noting,
development.4
thantheTiberiansystem
ofconjunctives
scriptsshowmoredetailedfeatures
2J.Blau,
Hebrew
AGrammar
Harrassowitz,
states,
1976),
(PLO12;Wiesbaden:
p.19.Revell
ofBiblical
inHebrew
itcanbeshown
that
its
cannot
bemaintained
unless
isphonemic
that
stress
claim
"The
position
inTiberian
conditions"
under
occurs
retraction
(Retraction
ofWord
Stress)
(E.J.Revell,
Nesiga
particular
Instituto
deFilologa,
Cisneros
Cardenal
Hebrew
39;Madrid:
1987],
p.9).
[Textos
yEstudios
" D^niiQ
3A.Dotan,
'QDn
tu;otyan
tu;odtt itronwn
EncJud
S.Morag,
tyimioon
13:637;
"Masorah,"
Leshonenu
38
of
the
and
of
the
Massoretes),
lynou; (Some
terminology
early
aspects methodology
49-77.
(1973-1974):
4E. Werner,
andMusic
inSynagogue
andChurch
TheInterdependence
TheSacred
ofLiturgy
Bridge:
York:
Columbia
Millennium
the
hirst
Press,
1959),
(New
University
p.413.
during

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

75

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

butdo notplacetheiraccentsuponstressedsyllables.5
Revellthusconcludes
stresspositionswas nottheprimary
concernofthePalestinian
thatmarking
accentualsigns.6Moreover,Shoshanyrecentlyobservedthataccentsover
stressedsyllablesare foundeven in a fewearlyBabylonianmanuscripts.7
the function
of markingstressshouldnotbe considereda later
Therefore,
development.
Althoughwe have no documentalevidenceregardingthe
existenceof stressin BiblicalHebrew,variousphenomenareflecting
stress
positioningcan be reasonablypostulatedin it.8It is evidentthatstress
existedin thebiblicalperiodsince its existenceon a wordis moreancient
thanany otherphonologicalphenomenain Biblical Hebrew;stressis a
qualityinnateto a wordin a language.9If so, whydoes this
suprasegmental
function
showup mostlyin thelaterMasoretictradition?
The reasonmight
be thattheMasoretesdid notfeelan urgentneedto markthestressedsyllables sincethetext'sreadersalreadyknewwhereto putthe stress.In any
itwas notconsidereda majorpurpose
case, itis almostcertainthatmarking
ofthemasoretic
accentuation
system.
The secondfunction
of themasoreticaccentsis musicaland thethirdis
due
Althoughscholarsdebatewhichof thesetwo is primary,
punctuational.
to severalreasons,mosttendto believethatit is theformer.
First,cantillationof biblicaltextsguidedby themasoreticaccentuation
systemis practicedinthesynagogue
tothisday.10Wiekescomments,

5E.J.Revell,
"Hebrew
Accents,"
p.148.
6E.J.Revell,
"Hebrew
Accents,"
p.148.
7R.Shoshany,
"rrtan
rnioon
mnnanra
Danon
bwnunino
nrnn"
vsyui
nnyn
tnpon
"rip^n
(Anew
ofcorrelation
inthedevelopment
ofthebiblical
vocalization
andaccentuation
intheBabylonian
aspect
in
Vanur
bw
natS
tnur
in
studies
the
of
Israel
par
'Vihionpno
tradition),
(Israel:
Linguistic
memory
ed.R.I.ZerandY.Ofer;
2011),pp.251-267.
Jerusalem:
Yeivin;
Magnes,
8A.Goetze,
inHebrew,"
"Accent
andVocalism
JAOS59(1939):
J.C.L.Gibson,
"Stress
and
431-459;
inHebrew:
ADiachronic
Vocalic
Journal
2 (1966):
Z. S. Harris,
Change
35-56;
Study,"
ofLinguistics
Dialects:
AnInvestigation
inLinguistic
American
oftheCanaanite
Development
(NewHaven:
History
Oriental
A.Poebel,
'TheAntepenult
ofOldHebrew
andItsInfluence
onthe
1939);
Society,
Stressing
56(1939):
oftheVowels,"
AJSL
A.Poebel,
"Penult
Ultimate
225-230;
Shaping
Stressing
Replacing
inPre-Exilic
AJSL
56(1939):
G.Bergstrsser,
Hebrische
Grammatik
Hebrew,"
384-387;
Stressing
F.C.W.Vogel,
Inthearticle
listed
Goetze
'Therearrangement
above,
1918-1929).
(Leipzig:
comments,
ofvocalic
inHebrew
took
under
anEarly
Hebrew
accent
which
wasdifferent
from
that
of
quantities
place
Masoretic
Hebrew.
theinterpretation
ofHebrew
vocalism
haslargely
become
a matter
of
Hence,
accentuation"
"Accent
andVocalism."
(A.Goetze.
p.453V
9 Itisbeyond
theshadow
ofdoubt
that
vowels
andconsonants
ofa word
arethemost
fundamental
entities:
S. J.Park,
"AStudy
onPoetic
ofBiblical
Hebrew
Generative
phonological
Typology
Poetry:
Metrical
Hebrew
Union
Institute
ofReligion.
Approach"
(Ph.D.
diss.,
College-Jewish
2012).
pp.22-24.
10I. Yeivin,
Introduction
totheTiberian
The
Accents
Masorah,
p.178;M.Breuer,
Bible,
ofthe
pp.3-9;
D.M.Weil,
The
Masoretic
"Masoretic
ABD4:594-596;
E.J.Revell,
Chant,
p.4;E.J.Revell,
Accent,"
"Hebrew
141-142.
Accents,"
pp.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

76

Park:"PointingtotheAccents"

isessentially
a musical
Theaccents
aremuTheHebrew
accentuation
system.
- originally
torepresent
andpreserve
a particular
modeof
sicalsigns
designed
which
wasinuseforthepublic
of
ormusical
cantillation
declamation,
reading
andwhich
hadbeen
textatthetimeoftheir
theOldTestament
introduction,
1
from
much
earlier
times.1
downbytradition
handed
Second,the accents'musicalfunction
maybe also supported
by early
b.
to
references.
rabbinical
According
Meg.32a,
ry mot ata ruiunnona ata tnipnta pni*fn~idk rruawh now
'utimio tibrrpinor *nru dai"iqkairan
"Asforonewhoreads
further
saidinthenameofR. Johanan,
R. Shefatiah
without
a tune
andstudies
without
, the
(theMishnah)
(theScripture)
melody
I gavethem
alsostatutes
thatwerenot
saysabouthim,'Wherefore
Scripture
etc."
good9
Likewiseinb. Ber.62a:
no
pan mrvj nninnu?^20 sn ion bmvi tt< pan pnjpn
otd natu?
nn runna m nan io1?m
'ni nsb nanp ntiu>
'jsa "ion pnjr na jam an n^n na nunpw'jao nnx uppVja pynw
yunn1'n na Vaiaty'jad nnia nryVN"an'wna rrnn'oyo na n*oou>
nniNaa'py 'n na arrow^aa nnw
min 'ayo na nanou?
handbutwiththeleft?Rabasaid,
onenotwipewiththeright
Whyshould
4AtHis
"BecausetheTorahwasgivenwiththeright
hand,as itis written,
b. BarHanah
lawuntothem'[Deut33:2]."Rabbah
handwasa fiery
right
R. Simeonb. Lakishsaid,
to themouth."
said,"Becauseit is brought
b. Isaac
onebindsthetefillin
"Because
[ontheleftarm]withit."R.Nahman
inthescrollwithit."Similarly,
R.
totheaccents
said,"Becauseonepoints
onewrites
oneeatswithit."R.Joshua
Eliezer
says,"Because
says,"Because
withitto theaccentsin the
withit."R. Akibasays,"Becauseonepoints
scroll."
to
'theaccentsoftheTorah'referred
thatthetermmin
Rashithought
movements
made with
withcorresponding
of Scripture,"
"the cantillation
to
therighthandaccordingto themusicalaccents,since it was prohibited
that
he mentioned
scrollforpublicreading.Furthermore,
use an accentuated
the Palestinianreaders of his day (late eleventhcentury)practiced
theScripture.12
whenlearning
cheironomy
11W.Wiekes,
Accentuai
onthe
ATreatise
ion,
pp.1-2.
12Asmentioned
inthecultic
ancient
wasa verv
especially
practice,
important
cheironomy
byWerner,
On
TheSacred
Greece
andancient
ofEgypt,
(E.Werner,
Bridge,
pp.107-109).
Mesopotamia,
settings

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HebrewStudies55 (2014)

77

"
Park:'"Pointing
to theAccents

basedon Jewish
Compellingas theymayseem,thesetwoconsiderations,
are notentirely
tradition,
adequatebecause some otherTalmudicpassages
a punctuational
function
fortheaccents.According
to b. Ned.37b,
support
Kp 'Q nun mop -my-dw no vb o"n D'nyopio'a -du?id m jNobi
-nop o'nyo pica -nu; -idk tib o"n nnnz?-ou> t "rhi -irru;pjn
jwjnm ion ra m Kp^ 'tn Kin Krmitn trapo pitra <i3u?>
Nipn ircribiu? Diununiaa ovi^Nnmin ia di itapn i"a n non
h VnwDiun DUin nt uniaa tnpo nr dti^h min naoi iN-ipn
nnioon f?Kt now trapo pip's nttopen iron crpioan
As foronewhomaintains
thatpayment
is fortheteaching
ofaccentuation,
theviewthatitis foracting
as guardian?
He argues,
"Do
whydoeshereject
then
needguarding?"
as foronewhomaintains
that
thefeeis
Then,
daughters
forguardianship,
theviewthatitis forteaching
accents?
whydoeshereject
Heholdsthataccents
arealsobiblical.
ForR. Ikab.Abinsaidinthenameof
inRab'sname,
R. Hananel
"Whatis themeaning
of,'Andtheyreadinthe
andtheygavethesense,so thatthey
book,inthelawof God,distinctly,
understood
thereading'
[Neh8:8]?'Theyreadinthebook,thelawofGod'
refers
toScripture;
toTargum;
'andtheygavethesense9,
tothe
'distinctly',
division
ofsentences;
'so thattheyunderstood
thereading9,
totheaccenothers
tuation;
say,tothemasoroth.
Likewiseinb. Hag. 6b (= b. Yoma52b),
trunnniVij?iVyiVnhzp nyj n nVurn
rrna-oti trip'n tnon an
nrn npaj W? nn tria tni <tk kqVtin tria 'rb wnbwD'narinnri
ripby nn noii na Km nna Nn an arayvpicr-a^iqk noirno
Dnnpn ip'n nn D^aa in nn ona 'a naioa bnrvr
unpniyriyn
R. Hisdaasked,
"Howis thisversetobeunderstood,
'Andhesenttheyoung
menofthechildren
ofIsrael,
whooffered
andsacrilambs,
burnt-offerings
ficed
ofoxenuntotheLord'?Whatifbothwereoxen?What
peace-offerings
difference
doesitmake?"
MarZutra
tothepunctuation".
R.
said,"Inregard
toonewhosays,'I vow[tooffer]
a
Aha,thesonofRaba,said,"Inregard
liketheburnt-offering
which
Israeloffered
inthewilderness',
burnt-offering
- Itremains
what[must
heoffer]?
Werethey
oxenorlambs?"
[undecided].
R. Hisda's questionis, apparently,
whetherExod 24:5 shouldbe understoodas sayingthatbothburntofferings
and peace offerings
orderedby
Moses consistedof oxen. In response,Mar Zutrapointsto the atnakhon
intheJewish
seeA.Herzog,
"Masoretic
Accents
EncJud
tradition,
cheironomy
(Musical
Rendition),"
11:656-664.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

78

Park:"PointingtotheAccents"

markindicating
it as a punctuation
thata sentenceends
rity,interpreting
the reference
to oxen afterthissign does not
hereand thatconsequently
mentioned
beforeit. R. Hisda's addition
necessarily
applyto burntofferings
the
first
half
of
the
verse(whoseMasoretictext
to
oftheword
'sheep'
rn hprn$ rfa^i) is
D^nntiari ribpfan
reads:nna nirr
therefore
justified.13
based noton extra-biblical
traThis bringsus to thethirdconsideration,
was theprimary
evidence.If punctuation
function
of
ditionbuton internal
The
accents,it is unclearwhythe Masoretesneededso manyof them.14
wouldstillbe understandable
duetotheir
existenceofnumerous
disjunctives
since
there
is no
characteristics.
hierarchicaland distributive
However,
musical
is
the
value
hierarchical
amongconjunctives,
onlyposrelationship
In particular,
of theirexistence.15
sibleexplanation
accordingto therulesof
some disjunctivesappear in combinations
only withcertain
dichotomy,
munakhis thefirstservusof revia, always
The conjunctive
conjunctives.16
"Thisformaldichotomy
beingfollowedby it.17Thus, Wiekescomments,
necessarily
supplied(as faras itwent)thebasis forthemusical, andfromits
to theoriginators
oftheaccenseemsto havesuggested
recurrence
constant
forthemusicaldivisionsingeneral,"18Simitualsystema guidingprinciple
combinations
amongthe accents
larly,Revell contendsthatthe different
formsof chant,"callinggroups
mayrelateto "themusicof severaldifferent
ortropes."19
ofaccents"motifs
At the same time,recentscholarshiphas recognizedthatthe division
systemis quite close to the perforpatternin the masoreticaccentuation
of sentences.20
The main
based on theprosodiestructure
mancestructures
13E.Tov,
Bible
Hebrew
Textual
Criticism
ed.;Minneapolis:
Fortress,
2001),
(2nd
p.69.
ofthe
14M.Breuer,
Bible
The
Accents
,p.20.
ofthe
15Price
inwhich
refers
totheorder
are
butthis
ofconjunctives,
offers
anordered
ranking
they
ranking
totheconjunctives'
ownhierarchy
rather
than
accents
before
their
(J.D.
disjunctive
governing
arrayed
Hebrew
Bible
Edwin
inthe
Accents
The
Mellen,
27;Lewiston:
1990],
p.
[SBEC
Price,
ofMasoretic
Syntax
34).
16J.D.Price,
Introduction
totheTiberian
I.Yeivin,
Accents
The
Masorah,
,pp.32-35;
ofMasoretic
Syntax
onthe
ATreatise
W.Wiekes,
Accentuation,
pp.
pp.29-129.
17I.176-218;
onthe
AccentuaW.Wiekes,
ATreatise
Masorah
totheTiberian
Introduction
, pp.192-193;
Yeivin,
ofzarqa.
ofthe
first
servus
the
role
Munakh
alsoregularly
tion.
,pp.97-98.
plays
18W.
inthe
29-30
The
law
ot
substitution
ontheAccentuation
A Treatise
, pp.
his).
(italics
Wiekes,
SeeJ.D.Price,
ofthe
accents.
musical
the
alsosupports
ofMasoretic
accentuation
Syntax
purpose
system
55.
Accents
,pp.3-32,154-1
19E.J.Revell,
"Masoretic
Accents,"
p.594.
20Although
itwasJanis
andDresher
researched
hadbeen
structures
theperformance
bypsycholinguists,
ofthemasoretic
accentuation
thedivision
with
structures
ofthese
thepattern
who
first
connected
pattern
ofthe
Tiberian
"The
Prosodie
Basis
B.E.Dresher,
ofthe
Biblical
Accents";
"AGrammar
(N.Janis,
system
70[1994]:
ofAccents,"
Hebrew
1-52).
Language
System

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HebrewStudies55 (2014)

79

Park:"PointingtotheAccents"

structure
is to determinethe prominenceof
purposeof a performance
inthecase ofa realutterance
boundaries
datasuchas
byobtaining
empirical
transitional
errorprobabilities,
and parsingvalues.21About
pausai duration,
70% ofall pausesoccurat majorconstituent
breaks.22
The divisionpattern
in
is
themasoretic
accentuation
similar
to
the
in
structures
system
performance
severalrespects.First,bothare characterized
Second,thelayby hierarchy.
out in bothcases is moreor less symmetrical.
This meansthatthe most
breakoccursat themidpointof a sentencewhilethosenextin
prominent
takeplace inthemidpoint
ofthehalf-sentence
circumscribed
prominence
by
the mostprominent
break.23For example,performance
structures
can be
schematically
depictedas follows:
1

Shediscussedtneprosandcons to getoverhersupnsingly
apprehensive
feelings.
4
15 1 9 1 25 1 5 8 6
16
10

Inaddition
tohisfiles thelawyer
theoffice's
best adding
machine
brought
2
10 3 3 33 1
8
17 0
10 13

21J.P. GeeandF. Grosjean,

"Performance
A Psycholinguistic
Structures:
andLinguistic
Appraisal,"
15(1983):
F. Grosjean,
L. Grosjean,
andH.Lane,
'ThePatterns
of
411-458;
Cognitive
Psychology
Silence:
Performance
inSentence
Structures
11(1979):58-81;
Production,"
Cognitive
Psychology
A.Christophe,
M.Nepor,
M.T.Guasti,
andB.V.Ooyen,
"Prosodie
Structure
andSyntactic
Acquisition:
TheCaseofthe
Head-Direction
Parameter."
Developmental
Science
62003V
211-220.
22F. Grosjean
andA.Deschamps,
contrastive
desvariables
del'anglais
etdu
"Analyse
temporelles
franais:
Vitesse
deparole
etvariables
Phonetica3'
144d'hsitation,"
composantes,
phnomnes
(1975):
184.
23F.Grosjean,
L.Grosjean,
andH.Lane,
"The
Patterns
ofSilence,"
58-81.
pp.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

80

Park:"PointingtotheAccents"

Here the numberbetweenthe wordsindicatesthe pause durationperthenumber25 between"cons"and"to" refers

centage.In thefirstsentence,
to 25% ofthepausaibreaksthattakeplace whenthewholesentenceis spoken. It is by farthe longestbreakor the mostprominent
pause, and it is
in the middleof the sentence.24
The second-longest
locatedapproximately
breaks,markedbythenumbers15 and 16,takeplaceapproximately
halfway
betweenthemostprominent
pause and theboundariesof thesentence,reIn thesecondsentence,
thelongestbreakis
structure.
sultingin a symmetric
butthesecond-longestonesremaincentered.
skewedtowardthebeginning
thatthemasoretic
accentuation
Of course,we cannotprovewithcertainty
if
structure
are
the
divisions
and
identical, onlybecause
performance
system
we do notknowhow theancientHebrewspeakersreadtheirbiblicaltexts.
based on
At theveryleast,however,we do knowthatthedivisionpatterns
in the masoreticaccentuation
theruleof dichotomy
systemand thepause
coninperformance
structures
sharethesamelinguistic
duration
percentage
of sentence(i.e., pause in real
cept regardingthe prosodie structures
accentuation
The masoretic
systemdivisionsarethusinterpretable
speech).25
thatthemajorpurposeof themasoreticaccentswas to mark
as suggesting
pausesforproperrecitation.
punctuational
2. Musical or Punctuational?
ofaccent
themainfunction
How thendo we makethechoiceconcerning
forrecitation
or musicalfor
in themasoreticsystem?Was it punctuational
acitis byno meansa simpletaskbecausethemasoretic
song?Admittedly,
centuation
systemclearlyindicatesitsmusicalelementsbymeansof various
whilealso desigaccentcombinations
and patterned
kindsof conjunctives
means
of
the
elements
its
pausai durationpattern.
by
nating punctuational
orconsecutively?
Did itservethesetwopurposesconcurrently
In thisrespect,twostudiesare worthnoting.Revellhas observedthata
of pausai formscan be foundin BiblicalHebrew
considerableproportion
accents.26
Based
accentsand even withconjunctive
withminordisjunctive
24These
"Performance
J.P.GeeandF.Grosjean,
arefrom
two
Structures,"
pp.415-416.
examples
25Park
divided
boundaries
howtheprosodie
demonstrates
bythe
phrases)
(phonological/intonational
"The
Hebrew
Hecomments,
ofBiblical
boundaries
themetrical
resemble
accents
masoretic
poetry.
arelegitimate
andthey
aretheprosodie
accentuation
divisions
representation,
system
bytheTiberian
connected
with
themetrical
arephonologically
verse
since
Hebrew
biblical
for
divisions
colometric
they
Hebrew
ofBiblical
"AStudy
onPoetic
J.Park,
129).
Poetry,"
p.
(S.
Typology
hierarchy"
26E.J.Revell,
JSS25(1980):
andSignificance,
Hebrew:
Their
inBiblical
Forms
"Pausai
Function,
Origin
Masorah
asrepresented
oftheTiberian
thelanguage
means
Revell
165.By"Biblical
bythe
Hebrew,"
the
vowel
andaccent
Hebrew
ofthe
text
received
Bible,
signs.
including

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

81

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

on thisobservation,
he offers
somesuggestions:
(1) theaccentsystemcannot
factorofthepausaiformsbecausethepausaiformsand
be theconditioning
the accentsreflectdifferent
ways of groupingthe wordsof the textinto
semanticunits;(2) pausai formsoriginated
fromtheintonation
of
patterns
normalspeechbecausethedivisionof speechintosenseunitswas delimited
werelaterreplacedby
(3) theseintonation
by intonation
patterns;
patterns
themusicalpatterns
of chanting
controlled
the
accents.27
Revellsuggests
by
thatthepausai formsreflectan earlystageof thereadingtradition
priorto
theperiodoftheMasoretesandthemasoretic
thelater
accents,whichreflect
In otherwords,the punctuational
musicalpatterns.28
function
in
reflected
pausai formsof the readingtradition
developedearlierthanthe musical
in themasoretic
function
reflected
accents.The latterreplacedpausaiforms;
thus,we can see onlytheirraretracesinpausaiformswithminordisjunctive
accentsandconjunctives.
To provehishypothesis,
Revellmustfirstfigureouttheinterrelationship
betweenpausai formsand intonation
based on normalspeech.Yet,
patterns
he does notprovideany evidenceshowinghow thesepausai formsarose
fromintonation
or how thedivisionsdelimitedby intonation
patterns
patternsdifferfromthosedelimitedby themasoreticaccentuation
system.In
his recentarticle,Revellproposesthattheoccurrence
ofpausai formsis determined
of themaindivisionsdenotedfromthesignificant
by themarking
semanticor syntactic
His suggestion,
unit,notbytheaccentuation
system.29
one is Revell's lack of athowever,is notwithout
problems.The foremost
tentionto thefactthatpausai formswithminordisjunctives
and withconof
junctivesoccurveryrarely.30
Accordingto Price'sdataon thedistribution
pausaiformsintheprosebooksoftheHebrewBible,97.6% ofpausaiforms
(35923 outof36798) occurwithatnakhorsilluq.31Evenifone assumesfor
thesake of argument
thatRevell's hypothesis
is correct,
sucha smallperwithminoraccents(includingconjunccentageof pausai formsoccurring
tives) signifiesthatthe word groupingsindicatedby recitationand by
27 J.Revell,
"Pausai
Forms,"
pp.165-179.
28E.
E.J.Revell,
"Pausai
that
there
were
two
one
Forms,"
p.178.Heinsists
separate
orthographic
systems:
accentual
andanother
based
onpausai
phonology.
29E.J.Revell,
'TheOccurrence
ofPausai
JSS57(2012):
213-230.
Forms,"
30Revell
465pausai
found
about
inthebook
forms
ofDeuteronomy.
Almost
76%ofthese
occur
with
atnakh
orsilluq
and19%with
21forms
with
theminor
segolta,
zaqefandtiflcha.
Only
(5%)appear
accents:
nine
with
revia
with
with
teli
tevir
, five
disjunctive
, three
sha,andoneeachwith
pashta
,
zarqa,
andthe
munakh
"Pausai
geresh,
(E.J.Revell,
conjunctive
Forms,"
pp.165-166).
31J.D.Price,
and
Pausai
Forms
with
Non-Pausal
inthe
Accents
Hebrew
Bible"
"Exegesis
(paper
presented
attheSoutheastern
oftheETS,March
regional
18,2006),
meeting
p.5.Online:
http://www.jamesdprice
.com/masoreticstudies.
html
.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

82

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

are nearlyidentical.Ratherthanreflecting
cantillation
another
kindof word
as Revellhas suggested,
pausaiformswithminoraccentsmayapgrouping,
pear forotherpurposes.Based on an exhaustivecomputeranalysis,Price
maintains
thatpausaiformswiththeso-called"non-pausal"accents(anyaccentsotherthanatnakhand silluq or ole weyored)markexegeticallysignificant
wordsorphrasesinthetextwithrhetorical
Forexample,
emphasis.32
in Isa 49: 18,
nh
wibn
* S 1'" " " -
J*
<*nirroKJ
JS's ote
TS* HID
"SITfcta
T *3
TS 8 JT- frwn
AT ITmpj
IT'S
:n?33onipp
andsee.Allofthem
Liftupyoureyesaround
cometo
gather
together,
they
asjewels,
"youshallsurely
putonallofthem
you."AsI live."saystheLord,
andbindthem
onas a bride."
munakhmarksthepausai phrase
As in some otherverses,theconjunctive
**rnwitha rhetorical
emphasis,whichis exegetically
important.
a peculiarmethodology
In thesecondstudy,Shoshanypresents
regarding
forreadingand cantillation
forsinging.33
betweenrecitation
therelationship
markertheorydevelopedby Stein
She buildsupontheprosodiestructural
anduniverandGil.34In a seminal1980 article,theyisolatedfiveconsistent
- stress,numberof syllables,sonority,
comsal prosodiemarkers
syntactic
Gil
further
this
semantic
and
Later,
developed
import.35
theoryby
plexity,
that
examining146 languagesandsuggested
basicword
arecharacterized
iambic
bySOV[Subject-Object-Verb]
languages
andtheabsence
ratios,
structures,
order,
highconsonant-vowel
simple
syllable
aretypified
whereas
trochaic
ofphonemic
tones,
languages
bySVO [Subjectlowconsonantbasicwordorder,
structures,
complex
syllable
Verb-Object]
tonal
distinctions.36
ofphonemic
thepresence
vowelratios,

32J.D.Price,
andPausai
"Exegesis
Forms,"
pp.1-21.
" R.Shoshany,
inntoo
ofbiblical
bwnipon
"-oy
accentuation),
(The
DTpan"
"Nipon
original
purpose
studies
toAron
Aharon:
ed.M.
Dotan;
rihrm
(Mas'at
Dnpno
Linguistic
presented
innpntd^jhqpu/n
This
article
isa revised
TheBialik
Jerusalem:
andC.E.Cohen;
Bar-Asher
Institute,
2009),
pp.469-486.
R.Shoshany,
Accentuation
inherdoctoral
dissertation:
ofa sub-chapter
version
"Babylonian
System:
totheTiberian
andRelationship
ofDevelopment,
ofDivision
andAccentuation,
Rules
System"
Stages
Tel-Aviv
2003).
diss.,
(Ph.D.
University,
^ D.Stein
7( 1980):
Theoretical
173Structures
andProsodie
"Prosodie
andD.Gil,
Markers,"
Linguistics
20(1986):
165-231
.
Folia
ofLanguage,"
"A
Prosodie
D.
240;
Gil,
Linguistica
Typology
35D.Stein
"Prosodie
andD.Gil,
Structures,"
pp.173-240.
D.Gil,
"Prosodie
p.167.
Typology,"

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HebrewStudies55 (2014)

83

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

tendsto be predominantly
Gil's main claim is that"poem" forrecitation
iambic,while"song"forsingingtendsto displaytrochaicstructures.
to the Babylonianand theTiberiansystems,
ApplyingGil's hypothesis
former
into
twostages:(1) earlyand relatively
divides
the
Shoshany
simple
(2) late,morecomplexBabylonianaccentuation
Babylonianaccentuation;
She thenanalyzestheprocombinedwithTiberianconjunctiveaccents.37
of bothphasesand comparestheresultswiththeTiberian
sodie structures
One ofherexamplesis Isa 49:22:
system.
t
t11

II p
nan...
k&k ni...

the earlyBabyloniansystemwiththe textdiThe firstline represents

videdaccordingto therulesof itsaccentuation;
thesecondline,theTiberian
the
to
the
verse
is
divided
intotwoparts:thefirst
former,
system.According
consistsof one wordand thesecondincludesfour.Thus,thewordratiois
1:4: it is iambic,accordingto Gil's theory,
sincea weak component
(i.e., a
lessernumberof syllables)is followedby a strongone (i.e., a greater
numberof syllables).In theTiberiansystem,
thewordratiois 3:1. It
bycontrast,
is trochaicsince a strongcomponentis followedby a weak component.
thattheearlyBabyloniansystemis iambic
Shoshanyconcludes,therefore,
whereas the Tiberiansystemis trochaic.38In otherwords, the early
but the
Babyloniansystemmore closely resemblespoetryin recitation,
Tiberiansystemmorecloselyresemblessonginsinging.
Amongthe 1948 versesexaminedby Shoshany,1665 (85.47%) are divided identicallyin the Babylonianand Tiberiansystems,251 (12.89%)
displayiambicdivisionintheearlyBabyloniansystemandtrochaicdivision
in theTiberiansystem,
and 32 (1.64%) reversethelatterpattern.39
Based on
thesedata,she concludesthat,since the Tiberianaccentuation
systemdewas originally
intended
velopedfromtheearlyBabylonianone,accentuation
forrecitation
andonlylaterdevelopedformusic.40
37R.Shoshany,
Accentuation
This
wasoriginally
"Babylonian
System,"
pp.57-378.
grouping
suggested
Diemassoretischen
Akzente.
Eine
desSystems
nebst
zum
Verstndnis
byA.Spanier,
Darlegung
Beitrgen
ihrer
AkademiebutShoshany
further
subdivides
itinto
four
sub(Berlin:
1927),
Entwicklung
Verlag,
groups:
early
a,late
a,b,andc.
38R.Shoshany,
'TheOriginal
of
Biblical
477.
Purpose
Accentuation,"
p.
39R.
'TheOriginal
ofBiblical
Accentuation,"
Purpose
p.480.
40R.Shoshany,
'The
of
Biblical
Accentuation,"
Shoshany,Original
Purpose
p.484.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

84

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

It does, however,have
Shoshany'shypothesisis thought-provoking.
Gil's theory,whichservesas the
Most importantly,
some vulnerabilities.
inparticuof Shoshany'swork,has beenchallenged.Schweiger,
foundation
of
the
statistical
data
his
treatment
the
lar,critiques
concerning languages
thathe examined.First,SchweigerproposesthatGil's samplingis notrepredata thatdemonstrate
a similaraverage
sentativeand offersrepresentative
and Subject-VerbratioamongbothSubject-Object-Verb
consonant-vowel
Objectlanguages.This meansthatit is impossibleto judge whichof them
structures.
are moreiambicor trochaicin theirlinguistic
Second,Schweiger
in Gil's data:forexample,therange
pointsoutthatthereis no homogeneity
ratioin Subject-Object-Verb
of the averageconsonant-vowel
languagesis
too broad,from3.79 to 4.49.41Yet anotherproblemis thatGil's theoryis
too abstractwithregardto the iambicor trochaicqualities.In prosodie
betweenan iambor a trocheeis estabthebaselinefordistinguishing
theory,
examination.42
lishedby foot-leveled
Gil, however,beginswiththelevelof
rulesof
the sentence,whichis dividedintotwo partsby theaccentuation
his analysisdependson thenumberof wordsin each
therefore,
dichotomy;
part.Consider,forexample,Ps 23:4:
n <a>
won* non -rrnpwpiimw ...
:^Dnr naniImmto*
thewordratiois 2:2. Is theverseiambicortrochaic?
In theTiberiansystem,
iambicin theTiberiansystemwhencompared
Or is ittreatedas relatively
thatwhether
the
withtheearlyBabyloniansystem?In sum,Gil's suggestion
bythewordratiois notcompelprosodyis iambicortrochaicis determined
whether
thegiven
andmechanicalin determining
ling.It is overlysimplistic
forreadingorsinging.
textwas intended
Based on the discussionso far,neitherRevell's studiesnor thatof
the masoreticaccentuation
system's
Shoshanyis helpfulfordetermining
tothe
functional
Here,itis worthitswhiletoturnourattention
development.
difthatthereareno apparent
theorists
ofmoderncognitive
insight
empirical
41F. Schweiger,
Folia
ofProsodie
TheWeak
Ground
with
Statistics:
"How
toPersuade
Typology,"
123-125.
24( 1990):
Linguistica
42B. Hayes,
and
andPhonology,
Volume
1:Rhythm
inPhonetics
inMeter,"
"TheProsodie
Hierarchy
The
andSyntax:
E. O. Selkirk,
Academic
Meter
Press,
1989),
Phonology
(SanDiego:
pp.201-202;
MITPress,
Sound
andStructure
between
Relation
1984).
(Cambridge:

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

85

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

ofnormalspeechandmusicalmelodies
betweenintonation
ferences
patterns
Accordingto this reexceptforsome minorfactors,such as duration.43
if by theirnaturethemasoreticaccents
search,it would notbe surprising
of pauses fornormalspeech)
werebothpunctuational
(in theirdistribution
to producemusicmotifs).The
and musical(in theirvariouscombinations
accentuation
twofunctions
system.
likelycoexistedinthemasoretic
3. Functional Development of the Masoretic Accentuation
System
whichof
Withtheabove discussionin mind,is it possibleto determine
was thefirst
to develop?Wernersuggeststhatas
thissystem'stwofunctions
a norm,punctuation
Can his suggesemergesearlierthanmusicalnotation.44
tionbe applicableto themasoreticaccentuation
system?Severalconsiderathisquestion.To beginwith,therearethree
tionsare relevantin answering
reasons to believe that developmentfrommajor disjunctiveaccentsto
withinthemasoreticaccentuation
conjunctives
systemtookplace in several
stages.
The firstreasonis Revell's observation
thatthedistribution
of spacings
in RylandsGreekPapyrus458, one of theoldestSeptuagint
is
manuscripts,
identicalto thatof somemajordisjunctive
accentsin theMasoreticBible.45
Since Papyrus458 is dated to the second centuryb.c.e., the colometric
tradition
mustbe relatively
old. In Revell's
concerning
majordisjunctives
words,
FortheHebrew
showsclearly
thatthebasisofthe
Bible,[themanuscript]
of cantillation
was already
system
represented
bythelateraccents
firmly
inthesecond
established
a partoftheformal
b.c.e.,andwassomuch
century
oftheTorah,
that
itwasalsousedfortheSeptuagint.46
reading
43A.Patel,
andthe
Brain
Oxford
D.
Music,
(Oxford:
Press,
Language,
University
2008),
esp.pp.96-299;
inSpeech,"
J.Choi,
andD. Purves,
"Musical
Intervals
Ross,
Proceedings
oftheNational
Academy
of
104(2007):
Sciences
States
D.L.Bowling,
K.Gill,
J.Choi,
J.Prinz,
9852-9857;
oftheUnited
ofAmerica
andD. Purves,
andMinor
Music
toExcited
andSubdued
Journal
"Major
Compared
Speech,"
ofthe
Acoustical
127(2010):
B. E. Dresher,
"Between
Music
andSpeech:
The
491-503;
Society
ofAmerica
between
Toronto
andHebrew
inLinguistics
27(2008):
Chant,"
Relationship
Gregorian
Working
Papers
43-58.
44E.Werner,
Sacred
Bridge,
p.104.
45E.J.Revell,
'TheOldest
Evidence
for
the
Hebrew
Accent
BJRL
54(1971/1972):
E.
214-222;
System,"
J.Revell,
"Biblical
intheSecond
Punctuation
andChant
JSJ
7 (1976):
E.J.
Period,"
181-198;
Temple
in
"Pausai
Forms
Biblical
JSS
25
E.
J.
"Pausai
Forms
and
the
Revell,
Hebrew," (1980):
165-179; Revell,
VT3'(1981):
Structure
ofBiblical
186-199.
Poetry,"
46E.J.Revell,
'TheOldest
222.
Evidence,"
p.

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HebrewStudies55 (20 14)

86

Park:"PointingtotheAccents"

Second, originallyconjunctiveswere not countedin ancienttradition

to
amongthe"D^Qyu"sincetheyappearwithwordsin phrasesas connectors
thefollowing
Disjunctiveaccentsindicatestressesas well as
disjunctives.47
phrasaldivisionsranging"fromfull stop to various shades of shorter
as separators.
function
Stress,however,canpauses."48Hence,disjunctives
alonebecauseby itsnature,itshouldbe
notbe recognizedwithdisjunctives
Forthisreason,it became
to show itsconspicuousemphasis.49
distributive
- "conjunctives."
necessaryto developan additionalaccenttype
Theywere
not initiallycategorizedas "accents"but latertheycame to be treatedas
weakstressesas connectors
betweendomisuchbecausetheybearrelatively
accents.50
nantdisjunctive
Third,therewere no conjunctivesin the earlierBabyloniantradition,
whoseaccentuation
systembearsbetterwitnessthantheTiberianone to the
Of course,lackofconjunctives
in
initialstagesoftheaccents'development.
provethatthesesignsdid not
relatively
earlysourcesdoes notdefinitively
thethreearguments
thathavejust
existatthattime.However,takentogether
over
beenoutlineddo indicatethefunctional
primacyof majordisjunctives
that
the
former
were
the
first
to
emerge.
conjunctives,
probablysignifying
to mentionthatthisappliesonlyto majordisjunctives
Here it is important
because some rareaccentslike shalsheletand patsergadol werecertainly
It is apparent,
thereadded muchlaterby medievalJewishcommunities.51
accentuation
fore,thatthemasoretic
systemdidnotemergein itsfinalshape
ofpractices,
someof
butrather
developedin stagesovertime.It is a mixture
which reflectancienttraditionswhile otherswere developed by the
to
Masoretesfortheirown exegeticalpurposes.52
Althoughit is difficult
acfunction
of
the
the
two
the
elements,
disjunctive
punctuational
separate
than
centsshouldbe consideredancient,mostlikelyof earlierprovenance
conjunctives.
47M.Breuer,
intheBible;
oftheaccents
Jerusalem:
Hahistadrut
trnyu
(Thepunctuation
tnpnnu;
pio^fl
Hatsionit,
1958),
p.58.
48
toBiblical
Hebrew
AnIntroduction
Lake:
B.K.Waltke
andM.O'Connor,
Eisenbrauns,
(Winona
Syntax
intheHebrew
Bible
The
System
Milco,
1969),
ofAccentuation
1990),
(Minneapolis:
p.29;M.B.Cohen,
pp.4-5,59.
49
and
Studies
of
Case
Stress
Metrical Theory:
B.Hayes,
Press,
Chicago
(Chicago:
University
Principles
8
andLinguistic
"OnStress
andA.Prince,
M.Liberman
Linguistic
1995),
Rhythm,"
Inquiry
pp.24-30;
and
Syntax.
E.
O.
334;
(1977):
Selkirk,
Phonology
50M.Breuer,
Accents
The
Punctuation
,p.58.
ofthe
51D.B.Weisberg,
D.B.Weisberg,
"The
Rare
56(1966):
Rare
"The
315-336;
Accents,"
Accents,"
JQR
227-238.
57(1967):
57-70,
JQR
52E.J.Revell,
us8 (1973):
D. B.
Haieamim
ListintheDiqduqe
138-159;
Oldest
Accent
"The
,"Text
"The
Rare
Accents,"
pp.326-333.
Weisberg,

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HebrewStudies55 (2014)

87

Park:"Pointingto theAccents"

themasoreticaccentsare notmusicalnotesbutrathermusical
Further,
as follows:
wellexplainsthedifference
neumes.Werner
a neume
anda noteis that:
theformer
between
Thebasicdistinction
usually
butfora wholephrase,
whereas
modern
notation
stands
notfora single
note,
note.Notall earlyneumes
andnoneofthe
hasonesignforeachindividual
inmodern
notation
without
thehelpof
canbetranscribed
ecphonetic
systems
oraltradition.53
In mostcases, synagogueand churchpracticesdisplaya trendof gradual
The
fromecphoneticaccentsto a moreexactmusicalnotation.54
transition
withitsvariouscombinations
ofthe
masoretic
accentuation
standard
system,
accents(i.e., neumes),madeitpossibleforancientreadersto chantthebibliof upwardor downwardvoice movecal textswithambiguousdirections
tradition.
mentin accordancewithan orallytransmitted
However,thatis not
is in facta formof speech
thesameas singingthesetextsbecausechanting
markedbycadentialformulas.55
accentsarenotmusicalnotesthereis no way
Finally,sincethemasoretic
flowor temporalperiodicity
of musicin
withthemto writedownrhythmic
could
be in the
thetext.This impliesthatthemasoreticaccentuation
system
from
the
of
for
recitation
to the
punctuational
purpose
process developing
musicalpurposeforsinging.To be sure,the above considerations
do not
thatmusicalrealization
existedfromtheoutset,supprecludethepossibility
tradition.
However,thereis no documental
portedby an orallytransmitted
and in themasoretic
accentuation
evidenceof suchtradition,
systemwe can
traceonly two major functional
elements:punctuation
forrecitationand
cantillation
forchanting
withmelodicformulas
(originated
by neumes),not
it
for
that
the
masoretic
accentuation
Therefore,
appearslikely
yet singing.
from
to
cantillation.
Thatis why
systemfunctionally
developed
punctuation
we areable to observethetwofunctional
elementscoexisting
inthissystem.
4. Conclusion
The above discussionmakes it evidentthatmarkingstressedsyllables
was a secondaryrather
thanprimary
function
of themasoretic
accentuation
53E.Werner,
Sacred
,p.105.
Bridge
54E. Werner,
Sacred
andSinging:
OntheGenesis
ofOccidental
, p.104;L. Treitler,
Bridge
"Reading
inEarly
Music
4:Studies
inMedieval
andEarly
Modern
Music
Music-Writing,"
History
(ed.I. Fenlon;
Press,
Cambridge:
Cambridge
University
1984),
pp.135-208.
55L.Treitler,
andSinging,"
"Reading
p.179.

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HebrewStudies55 (2014)

88

Park:"PointingtotheAccents"

latebecausethiswas notan urgent

matter.
systemthatdevelopedrelatively
function
of theaccentsforrecitation
Then,thepunctuational
probablygave
riseto otherrelationaldivisionsof a unit.Finally,theaccentscame to be
in additionto punctuation,
used forcantillation
althoughthisdevelopment
of
musical
notation.
didnotbringabouta fiill-fledged
system

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