From: "Chris and Nel" <wattswestmaas AT eircom.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [b-hebrew] Gotthelf Bergstrasser
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:18:05 +0100
Hallo Members of the board, I'm back again (though my absence was
undoubtedly appreciated since I am known for constantly asking questions and
never being able to give answers) Now I am looking for some insider
information about a book which I am sure most of you have on your
bookshelves.:
Introduction to the Semitic Languages
Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches
by Gotthelf BergstrasserPaperback 276 pages (June 1995)
Translated by Peter T. Daniels ISBN: 093146417X
My question is simple, is this book full of linguistic science and detailed
grammatical analysis - which is then very much a no-go area for me. Or
could it be well beneficial to someone at an elementary level who wants to
familiarise himeself but not TOO deeply bogged down in masses of case ending
variations and phoneme replacements in a complex array of different semitic
dialects? I understand that it is comparative semitic languages through
charts and sketches (further information i can not find) and the only review
I could find was that only people with certain linguistic knowledge would
appreciate Gotthelf's analysis?!?!?. Yet I am eager to find out more about
the Minaean scripts and the "proto-semitic" scripts, and northwest semitics
in general. Unfortunately the web can only take me so far since I do not
have access to all those university archives and papers written by so many.
Looking at wadi el hol and serabet el Khadim all day is the best that I can
find along with some phonecian (although I prefer to name it educated
canaanite).
So any advice would be appreciated since this book is very expensive in
England and you can not even buy it in Ireland.
Thanking you
Chris Watts
Ireland.
[b-hebrew] Gotthelf Bergstrasser,
Chris and Nel, 06/23/2006