Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Barry" <nebarry AT verizon.net>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
To: "George Athas" <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
Cc: "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 11:56 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Emerging consensus (and paedogogy) on "Waw 
Consecutive" PSS


> One of the other members suggested “declension” as the proper term because
> it deals with morphology without dealing with the function of the
> morphology. I think he’s right. At least it’s a much better suggestion 
> than
> what I had.

Traditionally:

Declension refers to nouns, adjectives, pronouns and participles.

Conjugation refers to finite verbs.

The generic term for morphemic changes is inflection.

This terminology comes from Latin, the Romans figuring out how to describe 
the structure of their language with concepts borrowed from the Greek.

How helpful is that for understanding a semitic language?  I'll leave that 
for others to decide, but let's be careful about redefining standard 
terminology...  :)

N.E. Barry Hofstetter
Classics and Bible Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
(2010 Savatori Excellence in Education Winner)
Mentor, TNARS
http://www.tnars.net

http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry