Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ryan Clan <robert.ryan AT xtra.co.nz>]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions so far - I am checking the books 
out, and am grateful for your ideas.

To answer Yitzhak's question: My interest is primarily in the 
punctuation, rather than cantillation of accents, although I am now 
wondering if it is possible, or right, to learn one without the other 
given their multipurpose.

In college, accents were ignored and what I have learned to date has 
been gleaned from the internet, as well as various grammars. The 
material is thus a little haphazard and full of holes, but nonetheless I 
have managed to collate a small bundle of helpful information, have a 
good general appreciation of the subject, and the means to identify a 
number of the accents and their functions (especially those in the 21 
books) as well as make a fair, if untutored, attempt at analyzing verses.

However, when I recently got stuck on a verse in the Psalms, I realized 
I would need a book dedicated to the purpose of explaining accents. The 
trouble is, I come from New Zealand. As far as I know, there are neither 
the people nor the institutions available to provide instruction beyond 
basic Hebrew grammar and intermediate level reading (or if they are, I 
don't know of them, which is why I was interested to know of any New 
Zealanders on the group). Furthermore, I can't just pop into a bookshop 
and browse the titles until I find what I want. My best hope is that I 
can preview a title on googlebooks, otherwise it is a bit of a lucky dip 
at three times the US price to import a book sight unseen into this 
country. Hence, all pearls of wisdom would be most appreciated. If my 
children are to starve for the sake of this purchase, I want it to be 
worth it! :-)

Regards
Kay Christensen



Yitzhak Sapir wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 1:41 AM, Ryan Clan wrote:
>
>   
> > Also, can anyone recommend a good book on Masoretic accents. I have
> > exhausted everything I can find on the net.
> >
> > Regards
> > Kay Christensen
> >     
>
> I think it depends on what you want to study about the accents, exactly.
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
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