Biblical Languages at the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, eh?

For those interested in biblical languages, visiting Regina in late May ‒ or both ‒ this is for you!

At the 2018 CSBS/SCÉB Annual Meeting, to be held May 26-28, 2018, at the University of Regina, Regina, SK (that’s Saskatchewan, not South Kentucky, for those of you who’ve forgotten your northern geography), there will be a special session devoted to biblical languages. Depending on the number of accepted proposals, this may result in one or two meeting slots. If you love Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Latin, Armenian, Ge’ez, or any other primary language critical to biblical studies, consider submitting a proposal. The papers should be focused on language, but need not be formally linguistic (i.e., theoretical) in nature. The call for proposals is below:

Biblical Languages and Linguistics

A special session devoted to biblical languages and linguistics has been approved for the 2018 and 2019 annual meetings of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. Proposals concerning any ancient language relating to the biblical texts and/or ancient Versions, from Hebrew and Greek to Syriac and Ge‘ez, are welcomed. Preference is for papers that focus on some feature of grammar as it relates to the interpretation of biblical texts. Comparison of specific features of language traditions (e.g., some Syriac grammatical phenomenon in the Peshitta compared to the Hebrew or Greek of the Vorlage) is also encouraged. Please submit 250-word abstracts by January 8, 2018 to Robert Holmstedt robert.holmstedt@utoronto.ca

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Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew sessions at SBL 2017

For those of you looking for sessions to attend, the Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew unit has plenty going on this weekend, including joint sessions with National Association of Professors of Hebrew, Qumran, and Philology in Hebrew Studies.

S19-127 Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew; National Association of Professors of Hebrew
Joint Session With: Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew, National Association of Professors of Hebrew
11/19/2017
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 304 (Third Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)
Theme: Historical Linguistics of Biblical Hebrew
Papers will be read and discussed. Everyone is welcome.
Cynthia Miller-Naude, University of the Free State, Presiding
Eric S. Fredrickson, Harvard University
Starting Assumptions in Diachronic Method (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Nili Samet, Bar-Ilan University
The Linguistic and Textual History of the Biblical Root hbq (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jun Sato, Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto
Grammaticalization of the Qatil Verbs in Biblical Hebrew (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Kevin Grasso, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yiqtol as an Irrealis-Imperfective Form (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jarod Jacobs, Warner Pacific College
Adding Up the Numbers: A Statistical Visualization of the Linguistic Relationship Between Biblical Hebrew and Qumran Hebrew (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)

S19-230 Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
11/19/2017
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Grand Ballroom EF (Fourth Level) – Marriott Copley Place
Theme: Theoretical Approaches to Anaphors and Pronouns in Biblical Hebrew
All papers will be read and discussed. Everyone is welcome.
Jacobus A. Naude, University of the Free State, Presiding
Vincent DeCaen, University of Toronto
Generalizing Asymmetric Coordination with Anaphoric Pronoun (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Matthew Anstey, Charles Sturt University
A Construction Grammar Account of Anaphora in Biblical Hebrew (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Lénart de Regt, United Bible Societies
Anaphoric Accessibility in Biblical Hebrew Narrative: Global and Local Participant Tracking Across Clause Boundaries (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Tshokolo Johannes Makutoane, University of the Free State
The Contribution of Linguistic Typology for the Study of Biblical Hebrew in Africa: The Case of Pronouns in Sesotho (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Mary L. Conway, McMaster Divinity College
Narrative Appraisal as a Linguistic Approach to Evaluation in Text: The Case of Pronouns (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Interrogatives as indefinite pronouns in Biblical Hebrew (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)

S19-328 – Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
11/19/2017
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 304 (Third Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)
Papers will be read and discussed. Everyone is welcome.
John Cook, Asbury Theological Seminary, Presiding
Adina Moshavi, Bar-Ilan University
Biblical Dialogue in the Light of Conversation Analysis: An Analysis of Responses to Yes-No Questions (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Yoo-ki Kim, Seoul Women’s University
Responses to polar questions in Biblical Hebrew (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Phillip S. Marshall, Houston Baptist University
Pardon the Interruption: Interruptive Quotative Frames in Biblical Hebrew (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Richard W. Medina, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
On the Usage of YHDW, YHD, and BYHD in Biblical Hebrew and Qumran Hebrew (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Femke Siebesma-Mannens, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
HLK with Prepositional Phrases in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Tanakh (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Ellen van Wolde, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Niphal anew (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)

S20-337 – Philology in Hebrew Studies; Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
Joint Session With: Philology in Hebrew Studies, Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew
11/20/2017
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 103 (Plaza Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)
Theme: The Relationship between Linguistics and Philology for the Analysis of Biblical Hebrew
Tania Notarius, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Presiding
Jacobus A. Naude, University of the Free State and Cynthia Miller-Naude, University of the Free State
Linguistics and Philology – Separate, Overlapping or Subordinate/Superordinate Disciplines? (25 min)
Jacqueline Vayntrub, Brandeis University
The Relationship between Linguistics and Philology: A Response to Jacobus Naude and Cynthia Miller-Naude (10 min)
Jeremy Hutton, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Philology as Exchange Floor (25 min)
John A. Cook, Asbury Theological Seminary
The Relationship between Linguistics and Philology: A Response to Jeremy Hutton (10 min)
Discussion (5 min)
H. H. Hardy II, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
The Archaeology and Genealogy of Grammar: liqra’t as a Test Case (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Martin Ehrensvärd, University of Copenhagen
Counting AND Weighing: On the Role of Intuition in Philology and Linguistics (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Benjamin Kantor, Cambridge University
Quality over Quantity: Modern Linguistic Studies on Cross Language Speech Perception/Production and the Greek Transcriptions of the Second Column (Secunda) of Origen’s Hexapla (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)

S21-130 Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew; Qumran
Joint Session With: Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew, Qumran
11/21/2017
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 311 (Third Level) – Hynes Convention Center (HCC)
Theme: Biblical Hebrew Linguistics and Qumran Hebrew
All papers will be read and discussed.
Adina Moshavi, Bar-Ilan University, Presiding
Ken M. Penner, Saint Francis Xavier University
The Distinctiveness of Qumran Hebrew (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Eric Reymond, Yale Divinity School
Different Dialects in the Dead Sea Scrolls? (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Noam Mizrahi, Tel Aviv University
Qumran Hebrew in the Light of Historical Syntax (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Johan de Joode, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Pierre Van Hecke, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Is Orthography Style? The Classification Problem of the Dead Sea Scrolls from a Computational Stylistic Perspective (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Aaron D. Hornkohl, University of Cambridge
The Book of the Twelve in Masoretic, Judean Desert, and Other Sources: A Case Study on Linguistic Stability and Change (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)

A few new resources for our Beginning Biblical Hebrew textbook

Hit the link below for the description and links:

http://www.beginningbiblicalhebrew.com/2015/08/14/new-resources-available-2/

 

Also, those who use BBH or may be thinking about it might be interested to know that we are well under way on an intermediate textbook. It is also illustrated (the same artist) and uses part of the Elijah story to move students into deeper waters of Hebrew grammar and reading comprehension.

New article in JBL

My article on linguistics and textual criticism has finally appeared in JBL. I initially wrote this study in 2007 and then sat on it for a few years. There is a long-ish story behind this article and its appearance. Finally seeing it in print is nice.

Holmstedt, Robert D. 2013. The Nexus between Text Criticism and Linguistics: A Case Study from Leviticus. Journal of Biblical Literature 132 (3): 473-94. (PDF)

!שׁלום

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— update: our first posts will come slowly as we catch up on summer writing.

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