Review of a Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar Second Edition Merwe Naude
Douglas Mangum and Josh Westbury, Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis, Lexham Methods Series 2 (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).
**Note: This book was kindly provided past Lexham Press for review. Their provision of this text did not bear upon my review. **
The editors of this volume have each completed their PhD in Hebrew from South African Universities nether supervisors who are experts in both ancient Hebrew and linguistics. Doug Mangum was supervised past Cynthia Miller-Naudé and Jacobus Naudé. Josh Westbury completed his doctorate under the supervision of Christo van der Merwe.
The series, of which this book is a function, seeks to help students sympathise the different scholarly approaches to the text of the Bible — both the Old Attestation and the New Testament. Every bit such, this volume is non a word of linguistics for its own sake but it seeks to inform the reader with an eye toward textual exposition of the Bible. For more about the series and the other volumes in the series, see hither.
Structure of the Volume
The book is piece of cake to read. I read information technology in ii brief sittings. The explanations are articulate and concise with each subsection clearly marked. The subsections are about a page to three pages. At the end of each section, there is a list of suggested reading for each topic. The editors make an effort to suggest readings that are concise and precise. For case, at the end of a discussion of Structural Linguistics, the reader is invited to await at 4 pages in Christo van der Merwe, Jacobus Naudé, and January H. Kroeze, A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammer (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 18-21 for more information (p. 101-102). This grammer has recently been update. In this way, the authors of each chapter assist the interested reader and direct them to the almost pertinent information, instead of just citing a large book to wade through.
The commencement chapter is an introduction to linguistics equally it relates to Biblical Studies. It states that linguistics is concerned with A) how meaning is encoded in linguistic communication, B) why a speaker chooses to construct their thoughts in the specific way in which they do (either oral or writer), and C) how to empathise ambiguity and polysemy. In that location follows a discussion almost the difference betwixt philological and linguistic approaches as they relate to the Hebrew of the Erstwhile Testament and the Greek of New Testament. The particle הנה is described as a case of "mirativity" following Miller-Naudé and van der Merwe, see Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé and C. H. J. van der Merwe, "הִנֵּה and Mirativity in Biblical Hebrew," Hebrew Studies 52 (2011): 53-81.
The second chapter entitled "linguistic fundamentals" overviews phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax. The section on phonology illustrates that certain audio changes are nowadays in most languages which explain the sound changes in Hebrew for example. Wendy Widder says, "Many students have memorized Hebrew paradigms and vocabulary forms with the mistaken impression that the differences (and difficulties) are 'just the way it is' with Hebrew. However, many 'irregularities' in biblical Hebrew are probably the result of regular audio change" (p. 18).
For example, Hebrew probably originally had case vowels like other Semitic languages (e.1000., Ugaritic). The class מלך "king" with an –u nominative case vowel would probably be spelled as מַלְכוּ. At some fourth dimension, Hebrew dropped the case vowels resulting in the course מַלְךְ with just one vowel. A vowel was probably added to assist pronunciation with the unstressed e vowel existence the easiest vowel to add together. This improver resulted in the spelling מַלֶךְ. Eventually, the a vowel of the offset accented syllable assimilated to the e vowel in the 2nd syllable resulting in מֶלֶךְ. This is impossible to show but is a good linguistic judge since it is grounded in phonology and the sound changes which are evidenced in other languages.
Pragmatics and sociolinguistics are discussed in the third chapter. Pragmatics deals with meaning in discourse and is similar though withal distinct from semantics. It is the data encoded in a discussion, clause, or sentence at a deeper level than the semantics or syntax of the utterance. The discourse context provides meaning. R. Holmstedt in ane of his grammatical commentaries in the Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Text compares it to when a begetter says, "John?" upon his son inbound the house. The discourse background of John repeatedly failing to close the door upon inbound is the businesslike element in this discourse that is outside of both the syntax and semantics of the argument. Sociology of language is the overlap betwixt language, society, and social context which includes such things are dialect and register.
The next chapter deals with language universals, typology, and markedness. Using Chomsky's universal grammer every bit a starting point, this chapter illustrates that languages mostly follow the same patterns. By comparing languages that have similar structures you can fifty-fifty anticipate or reconstruct which elements volition be or may have been present in a linguistic communication. Language typology and universals are controls when describing a specific language. If someone proposes something that no language does or no similar languages exercise, so information technology is unlikely to be operable in the instance suggested. Linguistic communication universals illustrate that language follows a certain pattern and structure and their structuring is non random. For example, if a linguistic communication is a VO (Verb-Object) language and so it is very likely to have prepositions (94 languages) as opposed to postpositions (17 languages, see the helpful chart on p. 69-70).
Markedness describes "how much detail is communicated past a linguistic feature" (p. 73). For example, information technology can be marked by contrast (privative): a "mare" is a "horse" but is more marked then a horse considering it is female. In this chapter, markedness is discussed in relationship to lexical semantics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.
Chapter v summarises Comparative Philology (which compares Hebrew to other Semitic languages), Structural Linguistics (which begins with Ferdinard de Saussure and focuses on the word every bit an unit for analysis), Functionalism (which seeks to respond the question: how exercise syntax, semantics, and pragmatics collaborate?), Generative Grammer (which focuses on syntax and universal language every bit introduced by Chomsky), Discourse Analysis (too called Text Linguistics, which focuses on analysing discourse higher than the sentence level), and Cognitive Linguistics (which says that meaning is perspectival and is subsequently reflected in language).
Generative Grammar assumes that every language has elements that overlap with other languages. Thus, what occurs in one language can and will occur in other languages. Additionally, there is a "deep structure" of a sentence that tin be manipulated ("transformation") in a few set up means to produce different "surface structures." The rules which permit transformation are fixed and limited. It is assumed that every language has a set ordering of its words and phrase. The social club of words and phrases is not random just significant.
Capacity 6 and 7 draw specific linguistic bug relating to Biblical Hebrew (chapter half-dozen) and Biblical Greek (7). Regarding Hebrew, the verbal organisation (e.g., how to empathise the Nifal in relationship to the Qal, Piel, and Hifil; the relationship of tense and aspect to the exact system), semantics and lexicography (every bit it relates to the Hebrew lexica), give-and-take order (i.e., is Hebrew SVO or VSO?), and diachronic approaches to ancient Hebrew equally attested in the Hebrew Bible, are discussed. Regarding Greek, the verbal system (e.thou., how to sympathize the middle vox; the relationship of tense and aspect to the verbal system), semantics and lexicography (as information technology relates to the Greek lexica), and word order (i.e., is a sentence advisedly ordered or randomly arranged?), are discussed.
The final chapter suggests that working with a linguistic rubric can prove more benign in exegesis then simply proceeding word-past-give-and-take through the sentence as is oftentimes the case in language written report (come across the example of Ephesians 1:22 on pp. 192-195). Understanding the tenets of linguistics limit and command the ideas of non-specialists regarding descriptions of the Biblical languages.
Determination
This book is a wonderful step into linguistics. Its summary of diverse approaches makes it easy to follow and will increment its appeal amidst diverse audiences.
The sound communication in the book regarding properly understanding the many facets of linguistics and how linguistic communication works earlier making a statement about linguistic communication should be taken seriously (e.g., pp. 18, 36-37; 141-142, 192-195, 198-200). At every turn, the book warns the reader most previous missteps in linguistic communication written report (e.thou., carelessly glossing over irregularities in Hebrew on pp. 18, explaining the Piel equally "intensifying" the Qal on pp. 141-142).
This book will non make the reader an skilful in linguistics. One of the goals of the book is to allow the reader to appreciate the hard, time-consuming work of language scholars, and Biblical language scholars in particular (p. 8). It should make all students, scholars and non-specialists alike, more than witting of properly understanding linguistics before making linguistic statements.
This is a helpful explanation of linguistics, which covers full general linguistic knowledge, linguistic typology, and linguistic approaches. I highly recommend this source for the student who is interested in linguistics and applying it to exegetical and interpretational decisions.
Source: https://classicalhebrewstudies.wordpress.com/2020/02/17/book-review-linguistics-biblical-exegesis/
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