The YQTL-Ø “Preterite” in Ugaritic epic poetry | Alexander Andrason and Juan-Pablo Vita
The present paper studies issues related to the existence (or the absence) of the YQTL-Ø “preterite” form in Ugaritic epic poetry, and determines which of the two well-entrenched positions found currently in scholarship – i.e., the pro YQTL-Ø and the contra YQTL-Ø model – is more plausible. By examining the existing literature and various pieces of Ugaritic, Semitic, and crosslinguistic evidence, the authors conclude the following: the existence of YQTL-Ø is significantly more plausible than both the absence of YQTL-Ø and the use of YQTL-u as an expression of narrative foreground.