[B-Greek] interlinear anxiety
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Mon Feb 15 03:04:17 EST 2010
Elisabet egrapse
> I was told by someone who was there, that one of the top NT
Greek linguists, a name familiar to all of you but not a member
of this list, attended a seminar on NT linguistics with an interlinear
under his arm. Interlinear text is quite often used in books
published for bible translation professionals. >
XAIRE
You are no doubt aware that much textlinguistic work on multiple
languages and published linguistic work is done with interlinears.
Because of universal shared pragmatics, a linguist can sit
in front of a text in a new language and start making predictions
about the language that may be 75+% on target after the first day.
Outsiders are amazed, but it's just the nature of language
universals.
However, when it comes to fully knowing a literature and also to
knowing what is more probably the way the final 10% of the language
works, there is no substitute for a massive, indepth, internalized
knowledge of the language. And for a linguist, some cross-dialectical
or chronological data helps, too. And the linguist you mentioned
would probably agree with this 100%. (I know more than one who
fit the description who have personally confirmed that.) The above
'interlinear' was an admittance that they did not have such a control
of the language, but linguistic research can and is carried out by
outsiders to a language, who are very much insiders to the
mechanics of language and all manners of metalanguage dialects.
Grammar, syntax and textlinguistics are probably like the shell or
structure of a building, but a true home will have walls, paint,
windows, comfortable furniture and friends/family. An architect
can tell you alot about a building, but getting to enjoy a home
requires living in it. The comparison ends there, though, for an
interlinear. An interlinear will keep the person on the outside.
Unfortunately, going inside is not a simple matter of walking
through the front door. Or maybe it is. It's just that the person may
be asked to paint the rooms, lay the carpet, haul in furniture,
ktl., until it is a home.
And I think that you would agree that a 10000+ vocab does wonders
in making a structure a home. I suppose that what a student
needs to ask, is, do they want a five-figure vocab with auto-
productive forms in a language? Once the goal is set,
then one starts on 'how'. And g.a.l.a. is good. Builds
strong bones and healthy bodies.
Hmm. What would happen if someone gave up English for Lent?
ERRWSO
IWANHS
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
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