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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Fw: Aramaic to them?

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  • From: Trevor Peterson <06peterson AT cua.edu>
  • To: Karl Randolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Fw: Aramaic to them?
  • Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 05:25:58 -0500

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




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