To: list b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Different verb forms - same meaning?
Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 06:54:53 +0800
Dave Washburn wrote:
> This is a very good analogy. Another that comes to my mind is the
> idea that discourse attempts to build a skyscraper from the top
> down, instead of laying the foundation first so there's something to
> build on.
Dave,
I think you have unwittingly hit upon the reason why these type discussions
keep
extending on with no end in sight. I personally do not approach BH in order
to "build
a skyscraper."
As a trained engineer who job at times past has been to analyze existing
systems and
figure out "how they tick," I realize that the job of that type analysis is
completely
different from the job of design or construction. All the ones that I know
who do the
analysis job look first at the largest unit, break it down into major
components, and
then continue analyzing and *breaking* down until the various processes are
understood. I simply am never planning on generating new biblical hebrew!
Please realize that this is not the approach that I use with Ibanag, the
language
*into which* I am translating. There I very much have to start from bottom
up,
finding the correct words, the correct clause level forms, and the correct
discourse
features to result in the closest reconstruction that I can manage to the
original
text that I analyzed.
HTH,
Paul
--
Paul and Dee Zellmer, Jimmy Guingab, Geoffrey Beltran
Ibanag Translation Project
Cabagan, Philippines