Defining Collective Nouns: How Cognitive Linguistics Can Help Hebrew Grammarians

In previous studies of the collective noun in Hebrew, collectives have been treated as a homogeneous group of nouns. Collectives have been defined as a noun that refers to a group of real-world entities and is grammatically singular. Sometimes included in this discussion are mass nouns and proper nouns. This article argues that mass nouns and proper nouns should not be included as part of the discussion about collective nouns. Then it seeks to apply the research of Joosten et al. on Dutch collective nouns to Biblical Hebrew. Joosten identifies three types of collective nouns. First, Type 1 nouns focus on the collection as a whole. On the other end of the spectrum are Type 3 nouns which focus on the members of a collection. Type 2 nouns have the flexibility to refer to the collection in one context, while in others it can have a member focus. Using a sampling of collectives that appear in Deuteronomy, this article uses attributives, demonstratives, and cardinal numbers to help identify collective nouns in Biblical Hebrew using Joosten’s categories. Observing these syntactical elements alongside collectives this article shows that Type 1 nouns will have agreement between adjectives and collectives. Type 3 nouns will have disagreement. Type 2 nouns will, depending on the focus, have either agreement or disagreement.