[b-hebrew] Hebrew - dialect of canaanite
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org
Thu Jun 29 06:47:25 EDT 2006
On 29/06/2006 00:47, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:
> ...
> No, it does not. Hebrew can be compared and
> contrasted to cognate languages irrespective of
> whether one accepts Biblical historical claims or
> one's position on Biblical historicity. This is
> because the comparison of cognate languages is
> a process that takes into account purely linguistic
> features, and has no place for any historical
> claim of any kind. Using Biblical historical
> claims as if they have a bearing on such a
> comparison is simply wrong.
>
>
You are going too far here. Yes, languages can be compared without
reference to any historical data, and a meaningful picture can be built
up. But in practice linguistic studies surely make use of known
historical information. I guess that one could derive simply from
studying modern Romance languages that they had a common ancestor around
2000 years ago, probably spoken in what is now Italy. But it is on the
basis of known historical data, not pure linguistic reconstruction, that
that language is identified as Latin and as having been spread by the
Roman Empire. And similar undisputed historical data can be used for
study of Semitic languages.
The problem with this comes when uncertain or disputed historical data
are used as part of the linguistic reconstruction. The result of this is
that the linguistic reconstruction becomes entangled with the historical
issues. It is at least in principle possible for the linguistics to be
of real help in resolving the historical uncertainty, as well as vice
versa. Or we may simply end up with multiple scenarios, covering both
history and linguistic development, and no way to decide between them.
--
Peter Kirk
E-mail: peter at qaya.org
Blog: http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/
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