Abstract:
The function of BH word order (or more specifically clause constituent order)
patterns has received considerable attention during the last two decades. Recently,
Lunn (2006) provided an innovative explanation of how the relative frequently
occurring instances of fronting and double fronting in poetic texts could be explained.
In this paper marked constituent order patterns in the book of Joel are analyzed in
terms of the information structure of the strophes and stanzas in which they occur in
order to determine whether Lunn’s model also applies to the poetry of the book Joel.
Using their own semantic-pragmatic model for explaining constituent order, the
authors establish that, on the one hand their findings concur with those of Lunn, but
on the other hand, they do not need to resort to the “uniquely poetic” principles
formulated by Lunn.
