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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] exodus, dating of linguistics

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Michael Abernathy <mabernathy AT isot.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] exodus, dating of linguistics
  • Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 13:19:00 -0700

On 29/05/2004 13:26, Michael Abernathy wrote:

But would a native of this region use "boot" in a
written work intended for national circulation? Probably not, as they
would be aware that this is not the most widespread usage.

In writing to one another, yes they do. ...


Yes, maybe. But not when they are writing books or articles for printing nationwide or even state-wide, surely.

... But my point is really this,
ancient culture were highly isolated in ways that we cannot imagine. When
you have to walk everywhere, when there is no radio, television, newspaper,
etc., a regional difference of only a few miles can result in language
differences as great as those between the United States and the United
Kingdom.


Oh, I understand. I know of places where a few miles walk in any direction results in language differences as great as that between the UK and France or between the USA and Mexico, i.e. totally different, although distantly related, languages. And I know of a language spoken in just one village of 2000 people, but which still has four distinct dialects spoken in the four quarters of the village. On the other hand, I also know of places where essentially the same language was spoken over distances of thousands of miles even before any modern inventions. Indeed the USA itself is a good example, in the late 19th century (and even before the telegraph and the transcontinental railroad if you want to get picky about modern inventions); certainly there were some regional variations, but I suspect that the English of a 19th century California newspaper would be only slightly different from that of a New York newspaper, or a London one.

So, we can't jump to any quick conclusions about language use in ancient Israel, but we need to look closely at the actual evidence. And Yigal has given us some good pointers in that direction.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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