Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryan Rocine" <brocine AT earthlink.net>]

B-Haverim,

It's a pleasure to announce that my book _Learning
Biblical Hebrew: A New Approach Using Discourse Analysis_ is
finally available.  You may find it through the on-line book
stores, but it is cheaper ($28) if you buy directly from the
publisher Smyth and Helwys by going to www.helwys.com.  It
should be available at the S and H booth at SBL in
Nashville.

It is not my intent to use this forum as a place for ads,
but I know that many of you are interested in discourse
analysis and teaching beginning BH, so I thought I would
show a touch of chutzpah in making this announcement.  It
may spark a worthy thread.  Many
of you ask me about the availability of the volume from time
to time, and I have promised to notify you as soon as I
would be able.  Thanks, friends, for your support!

I offer the following for comment and discussion:
I have noticed that several new first-year grammars have
been
published during the past year or two.  I think this is a
testimony that the pedagogy in previous
approaches is somehow unsatisfying.  I think a pedagy that
is
controlled by discourse analysis is the best for several
reasons.

1.  Several Hebraists have been calling for the inclusion of
discourse-level issues in beginning studies for several
years, among them Longacre, van der Merwe, and Dawson.
2.  Discourse analysis describes the distribution/pragmatics
of the BH verb forms, clause types, word order options, and
participant references,  an approach that is more
comprehensive and functional/communicative than one that
focuses on grammar and translation only, ignoring the
distribution of forms altogether.
3.  Discourse analysis provides an organization of the
curriculum that is *inherent to the language in use* in
contrast to most curricula, which are organized like the
ancient grammatical studies of Latin, usually by part of
speech.  Folks may worry that the inclusion of discourse
studies in a first year program will overload the student.
Actually, the discourse-level issues organize the curriculum
so naturally and communicatively, the student is able to
learn more about the language more easily than when the
organization is patterned unnaturally after the old grammars
of Latin.  Isn't it nice to be presented with some
insightful overviews when one learns about a system?
Conversely, isn't it hard to learn about a system when one
is only exposed to pieces
and parts?  Traditional grammar/translation pedagogy exposes
students to pieces and parts of BH only.  Discourse analysis
enables us to present the language as a system complete with
some functional overviews.
4.  I hear that the newer commentaries are informed by
discourse analysis. Is it so?  They should be, and I think,
will be.  In any case, I predict DA is here to stay.
5.  A discourse analytical approach makes studying BH
relevant or useful whether the student studies for a lesson,
a year, or a lifetime.  Discourse analysis makes use of the
linguistic signals a writer/speaker uses to guide us through
his text.  One studies the meaning and strategy of the
grammar of a text as well as the meaning of the words.  One
studies a writer/speaker utilizes the linguistic options he
has available to him.  This discourse
analysis is often impossible when reading a translation.
The bottom line is that even a year's study *works for the
student*; a year's study is more than a mere prerequisite to
BH course 2.
6.  As a result of the emphasis on discourse analysis from
day one, lesson one, the student will be better trained in
asking some of the right kinds of questions about the
language of the Hebrew Bible, thus enabling him to better
read journals and do his
own linguistic research.


BTW:
Surprise!  My book has been well-received by several people
who already have a year or more of BH study under their
belts.   They have been pleased to gain an overview of BH as
a system rather than isolated pieces and parts.  The book
has pretty extensive bibliographic information that serves
as a good entry point into the scholarly study of discourse
analysis of BH.  I suppose now that even a linguist who has
no specific knowledge of BH might be interested in the
volume in terms of its pedagogy.

Shalom,
Bryan


B. M. Rocine
Associate Pastor
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206

(office) 315-437-6744
(home) 315-479-8267