Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

ianyoung AT plato.arts.usyd.edu.au wrote:

> [...] (2)     Once again, let me emphasise that my main reservation in this 
> sort of
> study is that the attempt to explain the behaviour of `am in ancient Hebrew 
> is
> done on the sole basis of the Masoretic Text.  I believe there is a serious
> question whether the current distribution of singular/plural verbs with `am 
> in
> the Masoretic Text reflects adequately the "original" distribution of those
> forms deriving from the authors the biblical books. [...]

Add to this the possible factors of diglossia and regional dialects, and you 
really
have very little basis for any solid conclusions at all. The only conclusion 
we can
make is that we know very little.
Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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