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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Pronoun )nky in Judg. 6:8
  • Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 22:33:06 -0500

Dear Robert,

Thanks for writing, and it was good to have your input. It is nice of you to provide further information. I would like to comment on one statement you made.

On to more: Harold's appeal to the "thought process" is really blurring the line
between pschology and linguistics. What we think we do when we form sentences
may in fact have nothing to do with what the mind actually does. We have to be
much more careful here, and simple anecdotal evidence really proves nothing in
this regard.

If this sentence formation were an unconscious process, I might have more sympathy with such a statement. But we are speaking here of written language. I don't know about you, but I think when I write. I choose my words carefully and put my sentences together deliberately. To say what we think we do when we form sentences may have nothing to do with what the mind actually does seems hard to swallow. I construct sentences a certain way to accomplish definite ends, and if the sentence does not seem to be succeeding, I add and subtract words, change them, and move them around. I may rewrite whole paragraphs to make the point clearer or communicate more simply. To say I should ignore the thought process strikes me as removing the communicator from the communication. If we retain the communicator, the problems he faces in conveying a message are quite similar to the ones I face. And these same issues can reappear in other languages.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard






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