---
title: "Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive Linguistic Account — Westbury 2014"
description: "It builds a cognitive-functional model from cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and information structure, and compares it… Cited by 6 papers here."
authors: ["Josh Westbury"]
year: 2014
venue: "SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)"
source: "https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/95852"
licence: "Open access (free to read); no CC licence stated — read only (SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University))"
summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License"
canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/westbury-2014-left-dislocation-biblical-hebrew-cognitive/"
---
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# Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive Linguistic Account

**Authors:** [Joshua R. Westbury](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/josh-westbury/) · **Year:** 2014 · **Venue:** PhD thesis, Stellenbosch University (Ancient Studies) **Link:** [scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/95852](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/95852) · **Licence:** copyrighted — summary only (free to read, no CC licence stated)

[**15** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2124267101) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [**6** citations in our library](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/westbury-2014-left-dislocation-biblical-hebrew-cognitive/cited-by/) of the 140,884 papers whose bibliographies we read · [SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)](https://openalex.org/S4306400300)

- [Publisher's page](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/95852)
- [PDF](https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstreams/47eeba9e-5619-406f-ac9e-dc5f58f26a4e/download)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2124267101)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Josh Westbury](https://openalex.org/A5019886629) h 4 · 58 citations · 10 works

Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The full text is not in the library (the download was blocked); this card rests on the repository abstract, and its ideas are provisional. The thesis studies left dislocation, a constituent placed before the clause and taken up again inside it by a resumptive pronoun ("the land … I will give it to you"), as part of Biblical Hebrew word-order variation. It builds a cognitive-functional model from cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and information structure, and compares it with cross-linguistic work on dislocation. More than 650 examples from Genesis to 2 Kings are described by their syntax and semantics and arranged as a network of constructional schemas, then explained by their functions in narrative, both prototypical and peripheral. A final part sketches how the construction developed, in a usage-based, "panchronic" view of grammar.

## Ideas

- I1. Detect left dislocation in the trees: a noun phrase before a clause, not its argument, with a coreferent pronoun (independent or suffixed) inside the clause. List the Torah hits by the role of the resumptive (subject, object suffix, possessor, prepositional object), as the first layer of a schema network like the thesis's.

## For Mova

- I2. A UD convention check: the dislocated phrase should be `dislocated` attached to the clause's head, and the resumptive keeps its own relation. Count how our converter attaches these cases now.
- I3. A `prag` rule (provisional, to be refined once the full text is read): dislocation at an episode start or after a change of speaker → topic (re)introduction; dislocation of a member of a set already mentioned → contrastive topic.

I1 and I2 belong to [languages/hbo/08-syntax.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/) (dislocation) and the head rules of `tools/macula` (`13-mova-tools.md`, section 6). I3 is a candidate for `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` and `09-discourse.md`. The thesis's 650 examples (Genesis–2 Kings) would make a gold list for I1 if the full text is fetched later.

Topics[Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/)

## Cite

Cite as Josh Westbury. 2014. Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive Linguistic Account. SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University).

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work.

```bibtex
@inproceedings{westbury2014left,
  title = {{Left Dislocation in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive Linguistic Account}},
  author = {Josh Westbury},
  booktitle = {SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University)},
  year = {2014},
  url = {https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/95852}
}
```

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