How Biblical Languages Work

by Finley, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780825426445
• ISBN10: 0825426448
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Kregel Academic & Professional

Summary

A practical and easy-to-understand guide to the logical structure of both Hebrew and Greek. Ideal for biblical language students.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	9	(2)
Tables	11	(2)
Preface	13	(4)
Acknowledgments	17	(2)
The Big Picture: An Overview of How Language Works	19	(20)
Five Key Characteristics of Language	20	(10)
Three Essential Ways to Look at Language	30	(2)
How Language and Culture Relate	32	(4)
Summary and Preview	36	(1)
For Further Study	36	(1)
Internet Resources	37	(1)
Exercises	37	(2)
Can You Spell That? Reading and Writing	39	(35)
How Writing Works	40	(4)
Three Types of Writing Systems	44	(1)
The Sounds of Language	45	(8)
The Sounds of Hebrew	53	(13)
The Sounds of Greek	66	(3)
The Semitic Origin of the Greek and English Alphabets	69	(1)
The Shapes of Hebrew, Greek, and English Letters	70	(1)
Summary and Preview	70	(2)
For Further Study	72	(1)
Internet Resources	72	(1)
Exercises	72	(2)
Putting It into Words: How Words Are Made	74	(44)
How We Can Understand Words	75	(3)
How We Classify Morphemes	78	(5)
How Morphemes Add Meaning	83	(2)
Affixes That Add Grammatical Information to a Word	85	(2)
Questions That Languages Ask About Nouns and Pronouns	87	(2)
Questions That Languages Ask About Verbs	89	(2)
Hebrew Morphology	91	(7)
Greek Morphology	98	(7)
Comparing Hebrew, Greek, and English Morphology	105	(1)
Putting Inflection and Derivation Together	106	(1)
Morphemes with More Than One Form	106	(7)
Classifying Languages	113	(2)
Summary and Preview	115	(1)
For Further Study	115	(1)
Exercises	116	(2)
Putting Words Together: Phrases and Clauses	118	(25)
Putting Words in Groups	119	(2)
Analyzing Phrases and Clauses	121	(3)
Picturing Phrases and Clauses	124	(1)
Forming Phrases	125	(10)
Classifying Languages by Word Order	135	(6)
Summary and Preview	141	(1)
For Further Study	142	(1)
Exercises	142	(1)
Telling Stories and Writing Letters: Understanding Discourse	143	(17)
Discourse Patterns	143	(5)
Discourse Types	148	(5)
Discourse Tools	153	(4)
Summary and Preview	157	(1)
For Further Study	157	(1)
Exercises	158	(2)
What Do You Mean? It's Just Semantics	160	(34)
What Do We Mean by Semantics?	160	(3)
How Can a Word Have More Than One Meaning?	163	(3)
How Are Words Related?	166	(9)
What About Figurative Language?	175	(5)
When Is Language Ambiguous?	180	(2)
How Is a Sentence Like a Play?	182	(4)
How Does Context Relate to Language?	186	(2)
How Do We Get Things Done with Language?	188	(2)
Summary and Preview	190	(1)
For Further Study	190	(1)
Internet Resources	191	(1)
Exercises	191	(3)
Variety Is the Spice of Life: Dialects and Change	194	(15)
Why Do People Speak Differently?	195	(2)
Why Do Languages Change?	197	(4)
How Do We Know When Languages Are Related?	201	(6)
Summary and Preview	207	(1)
For Further Study	207	(1)
Internet Resources	207	(1)
Exercises	208	(1)
Practical Ways to Study (and Learn) the Biblical Languages	209	(21)
Separating the Children from the Adults	210	(3)
Are You Motivated? Yes!	213	(1)
How Your Personality Type Affects Learning	214	(1)
Seeing, Hearing, and Doing	215	(4)
Setting Goals in Language Learning	219	(3)
How Can I Learn All Those Words?	222	(3)
Hints for Learning Hebrew Vocabulary	225	(1)
Hints for Learning Greek Vocabulary	226	(1)
Summary and Preview	227	(1)
For Further Study	228	(1)
Internet Resources	229	(1)
Exercises	229	(1)
Appendix: Glossary of Linguistic Terms	230	(23)
Definitions	230	(22)
For Further Study	252	(1)
Internet Resources	252	(1)
References	253	(5)
References to Linguistics in General	253	(3)
References to Linguistics and the Bible	256	(1)
References to New Testament Greek	256	(2)
References to Biblical Hebrew	258