----- Original Message -----
From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
>
> Karl Randolph wrote:
> > We are not discussing modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew is a far
> > different language. Modern Hebrew possesses many similarities
> > because of its history. The rest is speculation.
>
> Both Biblical and Modern Hebrew are Semitic languages.
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
I don't want to open up another can of worms here, other than to mention
reference mentioned on this mailing list about a year ago to an Israeli
linguist who claims that Modern Hebrew really is a mishmash of mainly Yiddish
and Mishnaic Hebrew, not a pure Semitic language. He mentioned that other
linguists claim that Modern Hebrew is basically Hebraic vocabulary on Yiddish
grammar, yet others pure Semitic. I don't know enough modern Hebrew to add
anything to these various claims, but what little I know seems to show a
strong Yiddish influence. That's one reason I claim that Modern Hebrew should
really be called a cognate language to Biblical Hebrew, making it a different
language.
Karl W. Randolph.
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