Language and Interpretation in the Syriac Text of Ben Sira: A Comparative Linguistic and Literary Study (Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden, 16)

This book is the result of an innovative linguistic study of the Syriac translation of Ben Sira. It contains both a traditional philological analysis, incorporating matters of text-historical interest and translation technique, and also the results of a computational linguistic analysis of phrases, clauses and texts. It arrives at new linguistic insights, including a proposal for a corpus-based description of phrase structure based on a so-called maximum matrix. The book also addresses the fundamentally different way in which a text is approached in a computer-assisted analysis compared with the way in which this is done in traditional philological approaches. It demonstrates how the computer-assisted analysis can fruitfully shed light on or supplement traditional philological research. CONTENTS 6 PREFACE 14 ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGLA 16 PART ONE SIRACH IN SYRIAC 18 CHAPTER ONE 20 THE TEXT 20 1.1 MANUSCRIPTS 20 1.2 QUOTATIONS IN EARLY SYRIAC LITERATURE 21 1.3 TRACES OF INNER-SYRIAC CORRUPTION 25 1.4 CONCLUSION 29 CHAPTER TWO 31 THE PLACE OF THE SYRIAC TRANSLATION IN THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF SIRACH 31 2.1 INTRODUCTION 31 2.2 THE HEBREW SOURCE TEXT OF THE SYRIAC TRANSLATION 33 2.3 THE RELATION TO THE GREEK TEXT 40 2.4 SYR AS A WITNESS TO THE EXPANDED TEXT 49 2.5 CONCLUSION 54 APPENDIX: THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF SIRACH 55 CHAPTER THREE 58 THE SYRIAC SIRACH AS A TRANSLATION 58 3.1 GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SYRIAC SIRACH 58 3.2 EXPLANATORY AND EXPLICATIVE VARIANTS 59 3.3 AVOIDANCE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISMS 67 3.4 MISINTERPRETATIONS OF THE HEBREW 70 3.5 OTHER DIFFERENCES WITH THE HEBREW AND THE GREEK 77 3.6 POETIC FEATURES 79 3.7 INFLUENCE OF OTHER PASSAGES IN SIRACH 84 3.8 'TARGUMIC' LEXICOGRAPHICAL TRADITIONS 89 3.9 CONCLUSION 90 CHAPTER FOUR 94 TENDENCIES IN THE SYRIAC SIRACH NOT SHARED BY THE 'EXPANDED TEXT' 94 4.1 ADAPTATIONS TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONDITIONS 94 4.2 SACRIFICES, PRIESTHOOD AND TEMPLE 96 4.3 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS 102 4.4 ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS 106 4.5 VEGETARIANISM AND POVERTY 107 4.6 THE CREATION OF WISDOM 111 4.7 CONCLUSION 112 CHAPTER FIVE 114 INTERTEXTUAL ANALYSIS 114 5.1 INFLUENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 114 5.2 INFLUENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PESHITTA? 123 5.3 AFFINITIES WITH RABBINIC LITERATURE 127 5.4 PARALLELS WITH THE NEW TESTAMENT 134 5.5 CONCLUSION 137 CHAPTER SIX 138 THE RELIGIOUS PROFILE OF THE SYRIAC SIRACH 138 6.1 INTRODUCTION 138 6.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RELIGIOUS PROFILE OF THETRANSLATOR AND THE TRANSLATION 139 6.3 SYR IN THE SYRIAC TRADITION 147 6.4 CONCLUSION 148 PART TWO METHODOLOGY OF THECOMPUTER-ASSISTED LINGUISTICANALYSIS 152 CHAPTER SEVEN 154 THE CALAP MODEL OF TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 154 7.1 INTRODUCTION 154 7.2 FORM TO FUNCTION 157 7.3 TEXT LINGUISTICS 162 7.4 THE PLACE OF SYNTAX IN THE ANALYSIS OF TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS 164 7.5 CLAUSE HIERARCHY 169 7.6 BOTTOM-UP APPROACH 170 7.7 MULTILINGUAL COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 171 7.8 CONCLUSION 175 CHAPTER EIGHT 176 THE PROCEDURE OF THE CALAP ANALYSIS 176 8.1 INTRODUCTION 176 8.2 THE GRAPHIC TEXT 177 8.3 MORPHOLOGICAL SEGMENTATION 178 8.4 MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS 180 8.5 PHRASE SEGMENTATION AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC ANALYSIS 182 8.6 CLAUSE SEGMENTATION 184 8.7 CLAUSE PARSING 185 8.8 SENTENCES 186 8.9 TEXT HIERARCHY 187 8.10 COMPARISON OF TWO TEXTS 188 8.11 DATA RETRIEVAL AND TOOLS FOR LINGUISTIC AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 189 8.12 CONCLUSION: CALAP AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED ANALYSIS 190 APPENDIX: COMPUTER PROGRAMSUSED IN THE CALAP ANALYSIS 193 PART THREE PHRASE STRUCTURE 198 CHAPTER NINE 200 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON PHRASE STRUCTURE 200 9.1 INTRODUCTION 200 9.2 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF PHRASE ATOMS 203 CHAPTER TEN 208 PHRASES WITH ONE EXTENSION 208 10.1 ADJECTIVE 208 10.2 d-PHRASE 217 10.3 APPOSITION 231 10.4 DEMONSTRATIVE 238 10.5 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE 240 CHAPTER ELEVEN 244 PHRASES WITH TWO EXTENSIONS 244 11.1 ADJECTIVE AND APPOSITION 244 11.2 ADJECTIVE AND d-PHRASE 244 11.3 TWO APPOSITIONS 246 11.4 APPOSITION AND d-PHRASE 247 11.5 TWO d-PHRASES 249 11.6 d-PHRASE AND PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE 250 11.7 ADJECTIVE AND PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE 252 11.8 DEMONSTRATIVE AND APPOSITION 252 CHAPTER TWELVE 253 PHRASES WITH MORE THAN TWO EXTENSIONS AND OTHER COMPLEX PHRASE STRUCTURES 253 12.1 INTRODUCTION 253 12.2 PHRASE ATOM WITH THREE SPECIFICATIONS 254 12.3 EXTENSIONS EXTENDED 255 12.4 PARALLEL ELEMENTS 256 12.5 THE NEED FOR A HIERARCHICAL ANALYSIS OF PHRASES 261 12.6 ADDITIONAL REMARKS ON RELATIVE CLAUSES 262 CHAPTER THIRTEEN 266 DISCONTINUOUS PHRASES 266 13.1 THE ELEMENT BREAKING UP A PHRASE 266 13.2 THE POSITION OF THE INTERVENING ELEMENT 267 13.3 ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 'CONNECTIVE PARTICLES' 268 CHAPTER FOURTEEN 273 INDEPENDENT USE OF xxx 273 14.1 INDEPENDENT USE OF:\ WITH THE MEANING 'THAT OF..xxx 'THOSE OF xxx ' 273 14.2 :xxx + CARDINAL NUMBER 274 14.3 xxx 'WITHOUT' IN ADVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS 276 CHAPTER FIFTEEN 278 TOWARDS A MAXIMUM MATRIX OF PHRASES 278 15.1 INTRODUCTION 278 15.2 THE MAXIMUM MATRIX OF PHRASE ATOMS 281 15.3 PHRASE ATOMS AND THEIR EXTENSIONS 281 15.4 THE MAXIMUM MATRIX OF PHRASES 283 15.5 PHRASE STRUCTURE AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE 285 APPENDIX: TABLE OF PHRASE PATTERNS 287 PART FOUR CLAUSE STRUCTURE 294 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 296 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CLAUSE STRUCTURE 296 16.1 NOMINAL AND VERBAL CLAUSES 296 16.2 SUBJECT AND PREDICATE, TOPIC AND COMMENT 297 16.3 DEFINITENESS 298 16.4 STRUCTURAL MEANING 299 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 302 BIPARTITE NOMINAL CLAUSES 302 17.1 BASIC PATTERNS 302 17.2 BIPARTITE PATTERNS AND SYRIAC CLAUSE STRUCTURE 305 17.3 ELLIPSIS 309 17.4 REFERENCE TO THE PAST 310 17.5 CONCLUSION 311 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 312 TRIPARTITE NOMINAL CLAUSES 312 18.1 INTRODUCTION 312 18.2 BASIC PATTERNS 313 18.3 AGREEMENT 320 18.4 CONCLUSION 322 CHAPTER NINETEEN 323 QUADRIPARTITE NOMINAL CLAUSES 323 19.1 BASIC PATTERNS 323 19.2 FUNCTION 324 CHAPTER TWENTY 326 PARTICIPIALS 326 20.1 FORM: ABSOLUTE STATE AND EMPHATIC STATE 326 20.2 STRUCTURES OF CLAUSES CONTAINING A PARTICIPLE 327 20.3 PATTERNS WITH A PARTICIPIAL AND SYRIAC CLAUSE STRUCTURE 331 20.4 VERBALIZATION 332 20.5 CONCLUSION 333 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 334 EXTRAPOSITION AND PRONOMINAL AGREEMENT 334 21.1 TERMINOLOGY 334 21.2 EXTRAPOSITION 335 21.3 PRONOMINAL AGREEMENT 340 21.4 EXTRAPOSITION, PRONOMINAL AGREEMENT AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE 348 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 352 EXISTENTIAL CLAUSES 352 22.1 INTRODUCTION 352 22.2 STRUCTURAL PATTERNS 354 22.3 xxx CLAUSES INDICATING ABSOLUTE EXISTENCE 355 22.4 xxx CLAUSES INDICATING SITUATED EXISTENCE 357 22.5 xxx CLAUSES AND OTHER PATTERNSINDICATING SITUATED EXISTENCE 361 22.6 LOCATIVE xxx CLAUSES 367 22.7 COPULAIC xxx CLAUSES 367 22.8 CONCLUSION 368 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 370 CLAUSES CONTAINING THE VERB xxx 370 23.1 INTRODUCTION 370 23.2 THE PERFECT OF xxx 371 23.3 THE IMPERFECT OF xxx 381 23.4 OTHER FORMS OF xxx 384 23.5 THE STATE OF THE PREDlCATlVE COMPLEMENTS 386 23.6 CONCLUSION 387 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 389 CLEFT SENTENCES 389 24.1 INTRODUCTION 389 24.2 CLEFT SENTENCES IN SYRIAC LINGUISTICS 390 24.3 CLEFT SENTENCES AND RHEMATIZATION 391 24.4 CLEFT SENTENCES AND NOMINAL CLAUSES 393 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 395 FUNCTIONS OF THE PRONOUN 395 25.1 CLAUSE PATTERNS WITH THE ENCLITIC OR THE INDEPENDENT PERSONAL PRONOUN 395 25.2 DISCUSSION 398 PART FIVE TEXT HIERARCHY 400 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 402 PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CLAUSE HIERARCHY 402 26.1 INTRODUCTION 402 26.2 EMBEDDING AND HYPOTAXIS 402 26.3 CLAUSES AND DISCOURSE SEGMENTS 405 26.4 COHERENCE AND COHESION 407 26.5 COHESIVE ELEMENTS 410 26.6 BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN ANALYSIS 412 26.7 TEXT-CRITICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL ASPECTS 413 26.8 CONCLUSION 418 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN 421 CLAUSE HIERARCHY IN THE PRAISE OF THE FATHERS 421 27.1 INTRODUCTION: THE GENRE OF THE PRAISE OF THE FATHERS 421 27.2 CLAUSE HIERARCHY IN 44: 17-23 (THE PATRIARCHS) 422 27.3 CLAUSE HIERARCHY IN 47:23-48: 15 (ELIJAH AND ELISHA) 426 27.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS ABOUT THE PRAISE OF THE FATHERS 430 PART SIX CONCLUSIONS 432 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 434 CONCLUSIONS 434 28.1 THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PRESENT STUDY 434 28.2 SYR AND THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF SIRACH 435 28.3 THE RELIGIOUS PROFILE OF SYR 436 28.4 THE MODEL OF THE COMPUTER-ASSISTED ANALYSIS 437 28.5 PHRASE STRUCTURE 438 28.6 CLAUSE STRUCTURE 444 28.7 TEXT HIERARCHY 449 28.8 THE LINGUISTIC PROFILE OF SYR 450 BIBLIOGRAPHY 452 INDEX OF PASSAGES 473 INDEX OF AUTHORS 487 CONTENTS ......Page 6 PREFACE......Page 14 ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGLA......Page 16 PART ONE SIRACH IN SYRIAC......Page 18 1.1 MANUSCRIPTS......Page 20 1.2 QUOTATIONS IN EARLY SYRIAC LITERATURE......Page 21 1.3 TRACES OF INNER-SYRIAC CORRUPTION......Page 25 1.4 CONCLUSION......Page 29 2.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 31 2.2 THE HEBREW SOURCE TEXT OF THE SYRIAC TRANSLATION......Page 33 2.3 THE RELATION TO THE GREEK TEXT......Page 40 2.4 SYR AS A WITNESS TO THE EXPANDED TEXT......Page 49 2.5 CONCLUSION......Page 54 APPENDIX: THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF SIRACH......Page 55 3.1 GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SYRIAC SIRACH......Page 58 3.2 EXPLANATORY AND EXPLICATIVE VARIANTS......Page 59 3.3 AVOIDANCE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISMS......Page 67 3.4 MISINTERPRETATIONS OF THE HEBREW......Page 70 3.5 OTHER DIFFERENCES WITH THE HEBREW AND THE GREEK......Page 77 3.6 POETIC FEATURES......Page 79 3.7 INFLUENCE OF OTHER PASSAGES IN SIRACH......Page 84 3.8 'TARGUMIC' LEXICOGRAPHICAL TRADITIONS......Page 89 3.9 CONCLUSION......Page 90 4.1 ADAPTATIONS TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONDITIONS......Page 94 4.2 SACRIFICES, PRIESTHOOD AND TEMPLE......Page 96 4.3 THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS......Page 102 4.4 ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS......Page 106 4.5 VEGETARIANISM AND POVERTY......Page 107 4.6 THE CREATION OF WISDOM......Page 111 4.7 CONCLUSION......Page 112 5.1 INFLUENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT......Page 114 5.2 INFLUENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PESHITTA?......Page 123 5.3 AFFINITIES WITH RABBINIC LITERATURE......Page 127 5.4 PARALLELS WITH THE NEW TESTAMENT......Page 134 5.5 CONCLUSION......Page 137 6.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 138 6.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RELIGIOUS PROFILE OF THETRANSLATOR AND THE TRANSLATION......Page 139 6.3 SYR IN THE SYRIAC TRADITION......Page 147 6.4 CONCLUSION......Page 148 PART TWO METHODOLOGY OF THECOMPUTER-ASSISTED LINGUISTICANALYSIS......Page 152 7.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 154 7.2 FORM TO FUNCTION......Page 157 7.3 TEXT LINGUISTICS......Page 162 7.4 THE PLACE OF SYNTAX IN THE ANALYSIS OF TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS ......Page 164 7.5 CLAUSE HIERARCHY......Page 169 7.6 BOTTOM-UP APPROACH......Page 170 7.7 MULTILINGUAL COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS......Page 171 7.8 CONCLUSION......Page 175 8.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 176 8.2 THE GRAPHIC TEXT......Page 177 8.3 MORPHOLOGICAL SEGMENTATION......Page 178 8.4 MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS......Page 180 8.5 PHRASE SEGMENTATION AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC ANALYSIS......Page 182 8.6 CLAUSE SEGMENTATION......Page 184 8.7 CLAUSE PARSING......Page 185 8.8 SENTENCES......Page 186 8.9 TEXT HIERARCHY......Page 187 8.10 COMPARISON OF TWO TEXTS......Page 188 8.11 DATA RETRIEVAL AND TOOLS FOR LINGUISTIC AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS......Page 189 8.12 CONCLUSION: CALAP AND OTHER SYSTEMS OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED ANALYSIS......Page 190 APPENDIX: COMPUTER PROGRAMSUSED IN THE CALAP ANALYSIS......Page 193 PART THREE PHRASE STRUCTURE......Page 198 9.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 200 9.2 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF PHRASE ATOMS......Page 203 10.1 ADJECTIVE......Page 208 10.2 d-PHRASE......Page 217 10.3 APPOSITION......Page 231 10.4 DEMONSTRATIVE......Page 238 10.5 PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE......Page 240 11.2 ADJECTIVE AND d-PHRASE......Page 244 11.3 TWO APPOSITIONS......Page 246 11.4 APPOSITION AND d-PHRASE......Page 247 11.5 TWO d-PHRASES......Page 249 11.6 d-PHRASE AND PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE......Page 250 11.8 DEMONSTRATIVE AND APPOSITION......Page 252 12.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 253 12.2 PHRASE ATOM WITH THREE SPECIFICATIONS......Page 254 12.3 EXTENSIONS EXTENDED......Page 255 12.4 PARALLEL ELEMENTS......Page 256 12.5 THE NEED FOR A HIERARCHICAL ANALYSIS OF PHRASES ......Page 261 12.6 ADDITIONAL REMARKS ON RELATIVE CLAUSES......Page 262 13.1 THE ELEMENT BREAKING UP A PHRASE......Page 266 13.2 THE POSITION OF THE INTERVENING ELEMENT......Page 267 13.3 ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 'CONNECTIVE PARTICLES'......Page 268 14.1 INDEPENDENT USE OF:\ WITH THE MEANING 'THAT OF..xxx 'THOSE OF xxx ' ......Page 273 14.2 :xxx + CARDINAL NUMBER......Page 274 14.3 xxx 'WITHOUT' IN ADVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS......Page 276 15.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 278 15.3 PHRASE ATOMS AND THEIR EXTENSIONS......Page 281 15.4 THE MAXIMUM MATRIX OF PHRASES......Page 283 15.5 PHRASE STRUCTURE AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE......Page 285 APPENDIX: TABLE OF PHRASE PATTERNS......Page 287 PART FOUR CLAUSE STRUCTURE......Page 294 16.1 NOMINAL AND VERBAL CLAUSES......Page 296 16.2 SUBJECT AND PREDICATE, TOPIC AND COMMENT......Page 297 16.3 DEFINITENESS......Page 298 16.4 STRUCTURAL MEANING......Page 299 17.1 BASIC PATTERNS......Page 302 17.2 BIPARTITE PATTERNS AND SYRIAC CLAUSE STRUCTURE......Page 305 17.3 ELLIPSIS......Page 309 17.4 REFERENCE TO THE PAST......Page 310 17.5 CONCLUSION......Page 311 18.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 312 18.2 BASIC PATTERNS......Page 313 18.3 AGREEMENT......Page 320 18.4 CONCLUSION......Page 322 19.1 BASIC PATTERNS......Page 323 19.2 FUNCTION......Page 324 20.1 FORM: ABSOLUTE STATE AND EMPHATIC STATE......Page 326 20.2 STRUCTURES OF CLAUSES CONTAINING A PARTICIPLE......Page 327 20.3 PATTERNS WITH A PARTICIPIAL AND SYRIAC CLAUSE STRUCTURE......Page 331 20.4 VERBALIZATION......Page 332 20.5 CONCLUSION......Page 333 21.1 TERMINOLOGY......Page 334 21.2 EXTRAPOSITION......Page 335 21.3 PRONOMINAL AGREEMENT......Page 340 21.4 EXTRAPOSITION, PRONOMINAL AGREEMENT AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE......Page 348 22.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 352 22.2 STRUCTURAL PATTERNS......Page 354 22.3 xxx CLAUSES INDICATING ABSOLUTE EXISTENCE......Page 355 22.4 xxx CLAUSES INDICATING SITUATED EXISTENCE......Page 357 22.5 xxx CLAUSES AND OTHER PATTERNSINDICATING SITUATED EXISTENCE......Page 361 22.7 COPULAIC xxx CLAUSES......Page 367 22.8 CONCLUSION......Page 368 23.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 370 23.2 THE PERFECT OF xxx......Page 371 23.3 THE IMPERFECT OF xxx......Page 381 23.4 OTHER FORMS OF xxx ......Page 384 23.5 THE STATE OF THE PREDlCATlVE COMPLEMENTS......Page 386 23.6 CONCLUSION......Page 387 24.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 389 24.2 CLEFT SENTENCES IN SYRIAC LINGUISTICS......Page 390 24.3 CLEFT SENTENCES AND RHEMATIZATION......Page 391 24.4 CLEFT SENTENCES AND NOMINAL CLAUSES......Page 393 25.1 CLAUSE PATTERNS WITH THE ENCLITIC OR THE INDEPENDENT PERSONAL PRONOUN......Page 395 25.2 DISCUSSION......Page 398 PART FIVE TEXT HIERARCHY......Page 400 26.2 EMBEDDING AND HYPOTAXIS......Page 402 26.3 CLAUSES AND DISCOURSE SEGMENTS......Page 405 26.4 COHERENCE AND COHESION......Page 407 26.5 COHESIVE ELEMENTS......Page 410 26.6 BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN ANALYSIS......Page 412 26.7 TEXT-CRITICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL ASPECTS......Page 413 26.8 CONCLUSION......Page 418 27.1 INTRODUCTION: THE GENRE OF THE PRAISE OF THE FATHERS......Page 421 27.2 CLAUSE HIERARCHY IN 44: 17-23 (THE PATRIARCHS)......Page 422 27.3 CLAUSE HIERARCHY IN 47:23-48: 15 (ELIJAH AND ELISHA)......Page 426 27.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS ABOUT THE PRAISE OF THE FATHERS......Page 430 PART SIX CONCLUSIONS......Page 432 28.1 THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PRESENT STUDY......Page 434 28.2 SYR AND THE TEXTUAL HISTORY OF SIRACH......Page 435 28.3 THE RELIGIOUS PROFILE OF SYR......Page 436 28.4 THE MODEL OF THE COMPUTER-ASSISTED ANALYSIS......Page 437 28.5 PHRASE STRUCTURE......Page 438 28.6 CLAUSE STRUCTURE......Page 444 28.7 TEXT HIERARCHY......Page 449 28.8 THE LINGUISTIC PROFILE OF SYR......Page 450 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 452 INDEX OF PASSAGES......Page 473 INDEX OF AUTHORS......Page 487 After subjecting the Syriac translation of Ben Sira to traditional philological analysis the author conducts computer-assisted linguistic studies of phrases, clauses and texts. He reaches particularly interesting proposals for a corpus-based description of phrase structure based on a so-called maximum matrix.