An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Signification
2.1 Semiotics and Semantics
2.2 Grammar and Words
2.3 Polysemy and Context
3.3 Levels of Analysis
3.1 Sounds
3.2 Morphemes
3.3 Syntagms
3.4 Discourse and Text
3.5 Analytical Approaches
3.4 Variation
3.5 Understanding
3.1 Introduction
[Page 44] 3 Basic Concepts
a Just as Schultens’s Institutiones (1737) set the grammatical study of Hebrew on
the foundation of comparative Semitic philology, so the Swiss scholar Ferdinand
de Saussure (1857–1913) set the study of language in general on the foundation of
linguistics, which takes all language as its object of study. The character of any
one Semitic language stands out more clearly when it is studied in the light of all
the Semitic languages, and the character of any language becomes more apparent
in the light of languages in general. A linguist scientifically observes patterns and
proposes theories pertaining to language in general, enabling the specialist in any
given language to interpret the data better. Nowadays the scholarly Hebraist must
be both a Semitist and a linguist. In this chapter we attempt to set forth some
fundamental linguistic notions. In the chapters that follow we occasionally relate
linguistic theories to the various points of Hebrew grammar being discussed.
b Linguistics is a discipline in itself, and, as in any dynamic and developing
science, scholars often do not agree about the best way to systematize the data.
Our aim here is practical, and we restrict ourselves to points of theory that enjoy a
broad consensus among linguists and that are most pertinent to our study. Three
great themes of linguistic study are touched on. The first involves language in
relation to the world; language [Page 45] has certain properties that enable it to