Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Arnaud Fournet" <fournet.arnaud AT wanadoo.fr>]

From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
> I did study some linguistics many years ago, but I have forgotten most of
> the terminology since then.
>
> The terminology was developed to describe European languages and Biblical
> Hebrew is not a European language. Those linguists who believe that the
> terminology refers to all aspects of languages, and refuse or are unable 
> to
> think outside the box (limits of the terminology), may not recognize how
> Biblical Hebrew verbal usage differs from what is described in the
> terminology. I wonder how many other aspects of the language are not
> recognized because of the terminology?
>
> I read Tanakh, not as a linguist, but as an act of worship, to find out 
> what
> God has to say to mankind. Hence I read for meaning, not as an exercise in
> developing theoretical models of the language. I am not a member of any
> established school of linguistics. I wrote my own dictionary because the
> dictionaries I bought do not accurately describe what I read. And I long 
> ago
> stopped looking at the grammars for the same reason.
>
> Now comes the hard question, how to explain what I observe?
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
***

There is a kind of hybris in thinking that a pluri-millenary tradition is 
incorrect and thoroughly inadequate and that you, alone, have the right 
approach.
Actually the answer may be harder to hear than the question.

Arnaud Fournet