[B-Greek] Is a Phrasal Interlinear a useful idea?

Nigel Chapman nigel at chapman.id.au
Sun Jun 20 07:09:52 EDT 2010


Hi all,

I've been tinkering with the idea of a 'phrasal interlinear' for a while;
translating at the ideas level, while still (like an interlinear), keeping
the words in the same order, to produce a set of glosses.

This can't easily be illustrated in a text email, so here are some I
prepared earlier...

http://jesus.com.au/comment/reference/php+1

(I note that my translation skills may not be the best you'll see; this is
more an illustration than a public service at present.)


BENEFITS

- More contextual and grammatical than a normal interlinear.

- When entered in a computer system, this creates a body of equivalent
expressions, which can be used in quizzes and drills, or to illustrate the
usage of words.

- Easy to read and edit via Wiki-style formatting.


DRAWBACKS

- Still artificial, since you'll often want to move a word more than 5-6
places for a smooth English translation, and glossing doesn't easily
accommodate this. I've considered other syntaxes for marking up arbitrary
word connections, but they add complexity; -- see:

http://jesus.com.au/help/formatting (skim down to 'TRANSLATION')


Q. Are there benefits and drawbacks that I haven't thought of?

Thanks,

-- 
Nigel Chapman, Sydney AU

Home: http://chapman.id.au
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"When eras die their legacies are left to
strange police." -- Clarence Day



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