Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vincent DeCaen <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>]

andrew,

your comment missed the crucial point: while all languages started out
with a "simpler tense distinction" (not tenseless in 1826!), only
sanskrit, thence greek and latin developed the true, advanced "three
tense" system.... at least on that view.

every other noneuropean system therefore is "arrested" and "primitive"
compared to the advanced european system. on one view, its the mental
incapacity that prevents others from developing it; on a more
charitable view, it's the language you speak that determines
cognition, and it's just bad luck you don't speak the advanced system.

the argument can still be found in sources from the 1980s onwards: i'm
collecting my hall of shame, that includes israeli nutcases that
conclude it's the tenseless arabic that explains their arrested
culture, etc.

i'm also interested in the resistance to larger language family
relations, especially the relation of indoeuropean to anything else,
and the relation to 19th century racism: that's quite a topic in
itself. ;-)

cheers
V 
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Dr. Vincent DeCaen <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>
c/o Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
4 Bancroft Ave., 2d floor
University of Toronto
Toronto ON, CANADA, M5S 1A1

Hebrew Syntax Encoding Initiative
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~decaen/hsei/
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Scepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to
surrender it too soon or to the first comer.     --Santayana