User's Guide: Prominence
User's Guide Contents
Prominence
Note: Prominence Analysis is a recent development in our method and is not yet available for many psalms.
In our Prominence Analysis, we aim to determine and visualize the relative prominence of each word, line, and section in the psalm. An element in the text is “prominent” insofar as it “stands out” from the rest of the text. Authors can add prominence to parts of a text in many different ways, but some of the common features that contribute to prominence include things like:
- word/root repetition
- rare words
- imagery
- lines of unusual length
- marked word order
- poetic devices
- structural patterns
- and more…
Our Prominence Page is split into three sections:
- Prominence Heat Map: Prominence analysis of the psalm as a whole.
- Prominence Features: Individual features of prominence underlying heat map
- Notes: List-summary of prominence features
Prominence Heat Map
The more these features converge at a given point in the text, the more “prominent” that point of the text will be. To illustrate this, we create what we call a Prominence Heat Map, where prominent features in the psalm are color-coded on a scale from low to high prominence:
| Low prominence |
High prominence |
|---|
Take for example the prominence heat map for Psalm 3:
Focusing our attention on the most prominent parts of the text often helps us better understand the poem’s main message. This is clearly the case in Psalm 3. As you can see, the highest points of prominence are in vv. 3b and 8a, and especially with the root ישׁע to save (e.g. v. 3b victory יְֽשׁוּעָתָה | v. 8a save הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי), the word אֱלֹהִים God (vv. 3b and 8a), and the root קום to rise (vv. 2a and 8a). Interestingly, these three words come together to create one of the main poetic features central to the psalm and its message, which you can click below to expand and read.
Psalm 3: Rise and Save
Rise and Save
If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.
| Emendations/Revocalizations legend | |
|---|---|
| *Emended text* | Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation. |
| *Revocalized text* | Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization. |
Feature
There are three words that appear only in the first section (vv. 2-3) and the final section (vv. 8-9) of the psalm: “rise,” “victory”/“save,” “God.”
The root for "victory/save" (ישע) is especially marked in this Psalm. Not only does it occur three times, but it occurs in unique forms. In v. 3 it has a unique suffix (יְֽשׁוּעָ֓תָה) and prosodic prominence (rare accent [shalshelet qatan] and occurrence of nesigah [shifting forward of the stress]). In v. 9 it occurs with the full definite article (הַיְשׁוּעָ֑ה, the only word in the Psalm with the full article).
Effect
The repetition of key words in this last section resolves the crisis and sets the record straight. The enemies may have been "rising" in v. 2, but they are no match for YHWH when, in v. 8, he is called to "rise." The enemies might say in v. 3 that “there is no victory/salvation for him in God,” but it is in vain: for David calls upon his “God” (v. 8) to “save” him, revealing the truth that, yes, there is indeed victory/salvation for him, because “victory/salvation belongs to YHWH” (v. 9a), and YHWH is his God.
Thus, the repetition sets up a contrast between the enemies' view of the situation and the reality of the situation. The enemies may act and speak as they like, but they are powerless when faced with YHWH. He will do as he pleases, and he will have the last word.
Prominence Features
In this section of the Prominence page, we illustrate some of the main prominence features of the psalm. Together, these individual features form the data for the prominence heat map. Common features we consider are:
- Word/root repetition: key repeated word or repeated roots, especially if they are positioned intentionally within the psalm's structure (e.g. forming an inclusio at the beginning and end of the psalm, or repeated at the beginning of multiple sections).
- Rare words: especially when other more common words might be expected (e.g. צֹעַן in Ps 78).
- Imagery: sometimes intentional use of imagery adds prominence to a part of the psalm (e.g. the only image of God as shepherd in Ps 100:3).
- Lines of unusual length: Lines that are exceptionally long or short often stand out from the rest of the psalm (e.g. the 6/7 word opening line of Ps 1:1).
- Non-default word order: Macrosyntax analysis often shows key points of prominence.
- Poetic devices: Intentional use of poetic devices often adds prominence. For more on these, see Poetic Features.
- Numerical patterns: Words arranged in numerical patterns often have increased prominence (e.g. 7 occurrences of יהוה in Ps 19).
- Structural patterns: Poetic structure and structural analysis often reveal points of prominence (e.g. the center of a chiasm, see for example poetic feature 1 “Sheep & Shepherd” in Ps 100).
Each feature corresponds to a specific amount of “prominence points,” increasing its weight on the prominence scale. The more points a word has, the higher its prominence on the heat map.
Notes
In the Notes section of the Prominence page, we present a summary list of prominence features in the psalm, arranged in a table. Each row of the table is a verse of the psalm. The columns are divided into sublexical, lexical/interlexical, and supralexical.
- Sublexical: Below the level of the word - e.g. features like specific sounds or letters or suffixes within words.
- Lexical/interlexical: At the level of the word or between specific words. Most features occur in this category, including repeated words/roots, marked word order, and more…
- Supralexical: Above the level of the word - e.g. features like poetic line length, imagery, structural patterns.
Here is an example of the Notes table from Psalm 3:
| Sublexical | Lexical / Interlexical | Supralexical | |
|---|---|---|---|
| v. 2 | • repeated root: רבב • fronting of "many" (רַבִּים) • repeated word: "rising" (קָמִים) (cf. v. 8) |
||
| v. 3 | • repeated root: רבב • fronting of "many" (רַבִּים) • highly marked word: "victory" (יְֽשׁוּעָ֓תָה) (unique morphology, repeated [cf. v. 9]) |
• v. 3b: longest line in psalm • vv. 3-4: sounds that are repeated to form a chiasm across vv. 3-4 (see PF #3) | |
| v. 4 | • shield imagery • explicit pronoun and marked word order: "but you..." |
||
| v. 5 | • marked word order: "to YHWH" | ||
| v. 6 | |||
| v. 7 | • repeated root: רבב (cf. vv. 2-3) • repeated word: "people" (עָם) (cf. v. 9b) • fronting of "around" (סָבִיב) |
||
| v. 8 | • alliteration (k and sh) | • repetition of key words and thematic reversal (cf. v. 2-3) (see PF #1) | • three-line verse • graphic imagery (striking jaws... breaking teeth) • chiasm |
| v. 9 | • marked word order in each line: "YHWH's... on your people..." • repeated word: "victory" (הַיְשׁוּעָ֑ה) • repeated word: "people" |