Qumran Hebrew Syntax in the Perspective of a Theory of Language Change and Diffusion

The aim of this paper is to outline a constrained theory of language change and diffusion. Contemporary views on the typology of Qumran Hebrew will be presented and evaluated. The shortcomings in conceptualisation and method which have given rise to the misconception of the typology of Qumran Hebrew lies in the failure to
utilise a coherent conception of the nature of language and the lack of clarity surrounding the notion of change. If the crucial distinction between change and diffusion events are allowed to be blurred, no meaningful generalisations are likely to be forthcoming. In keeping with the recent developments in syntactic theory, syntactic changes are in fact to be understood not as changes in the syntactic component of the grammar itself, but rather as revisions and differences in features of lexical entries.
Syntactic changes in Qumran Hebrew are due to changes in syntactic category designation, changes in subcategorisation frames and changes in lexical features.