Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tory Thorpe <torythrp AT yahoo.com>]

--- On Wed, 6/25/08, JimStinehart AT aol.com <JimStinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

> (b)  The author of the Patriarchal narratives portrays the first 
> Hebrews as being indigenous to Canaan, speaking west Semitic perfectly
> from birth, and hence having no trouble communicating with the
> Canaanites, or with Hurrians in Canaan who had learned to speak 
> west Semitic.

No-one speaks any language perfectly from the moment of birth, except maybe 
the likes of Dr. MLK Jr. We learn from our mothers first (dads too), and 
Sesame Street still plays a big role for many. If the author of the PN has 
Avram not born and raised in Canaan, even if his distant ancestors were, what 
grounds are there for the presumption, other than say ethnicity, that the 
author of PN believed Avram spoke west Semitic as a first language? He 
presumably would not.

Tory Thorpe
Modiin, Israel