Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
> 
> ...  This is important not only because of the higher scientific
> status to which I personally hold linguistics as compared with other
> Bible-related studies, but also because although we all come with
> preconceived notions of the dating of Biblical texts, linguists have
> much less a vested interest in promoting a particular dating or theory.
> They are more interested in the way the language changed over time,
> than with the essential conclusions to be drawn from that in respect
> to the Bible.  This in turn makes them slightly more objective.
> 
Yitzhak: the linguists' conclusions are only as good as 
their initial data. After all, GIGO still rules. You and 
I strongly disagree on the dating of Hebrew documents, 
and the linguist who takes my dates will come to different 
conclusions than one who takes yours. The exception is 
where we have reliably dated documents, and enough of 
them to see clear patterns of development, a situation 
that does not exist for Biblical Hebrew.
> 
> Yitzhak Sapir

Karl W. Randolph.

-- 
___________________________________________________________
Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com
http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm