Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Karl Randolph wrote:
> Peter: 
>  
> It is precisely the simplification of grammatical forms and the fossilization of spelling that lead me to think that 
> Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language among the masses in the market, in the work place and at the 
> hearth.

Sort of like what happened with English, I guess, when it ceased to be a 
spoken language? :-) Seriously, I would like to know exactly what you 
mean here. How does the simplification of grammatical forms show that a 
language is not being spoken, if a language like English somehow 
simplified its morphology without (as far as I know) ceasing to be 
spoken by any but an elite group. In the same way, I would like to know 
why historical spelling in English does not indicate a dead language, 
while in Hebrew it would.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics