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Hebrew a Dead Language? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7145 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 1 of 43 09 July 2007 at 2:24am | IP Logged | ||
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In another thread somebody wrote that Hebrew was a dead language. Modern Hebrew is just people's idea of how it probably sounded and maybe the present Hebrew is the result of guesswork.
I would argue that knowledge of Hebrew has never died out. Sacred texts have always been read in Hebrew and the prayers each day have continued without a break for thousands of years. No one has lost the way the words are pronounced, although there are obviously going to be regional differences. Hebrew just wasn't used as a language for ordinary conversation as it was considered too holy to be spoken about mundane matters. Does anyone have any more information they can add? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vuisminebitz Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6573 days ago 86 posts - 108 votes Speaks: Yiddish, English*, Spanish Studies: Swahili | Message 2 of 43 09 July 2007 at 8:33am | IP Logged | ||
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It was dead as a language of daily communication within a speaking
community, not as a liturgal language of prayer for about two thousand years. Many languages such as Geez and Latin are in the same catagory, they are considered "dead" by linguists because they are not used by a family or community but are read in prayers aloud. In my mind they are "less dead" than dead languages that are never read or spoken (especially ones with little or no records) but from a socio-linguistic perspective in terms of family or community use they are dead. So Hebrew was dead as a community language but not as a language of prayer and scholarships (essays, religious commentaries, newspapers and the like). So in most circumstances this would refered to as being dead. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6690 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 43 09 July 2007 at 10:05am | IP Logged | ||
Really?I thought they knew how Ancient Hebrew sounded. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| orion Senior Member United States Joined 7020 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 4 of 43 09 July 2007 at 11:01am | IP Logged | ||
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I do not think Hebrew should be classified as a dead language. Isn't it spoken by millions of people in Israel as a first language?
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| Seth Diglot Changed to RedKing’sDream Senior Member United States Joined 7223 days ago 240 posts - 252 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Persian | Message 5 of 43 09 July 2007 at 11:03am | IP Logged | ||
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If children did not continue to acquire it as a native language through the years, then it an important sense it was a dead language.
That doesn't have to take anything away from its present form really, though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6690 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes 4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 6 of 43 11 July 2007 at 11:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Is it known how far modern Hebrew sounds from the old?
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| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6436 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 7 of 43 22 July 2007 at 1:03pm | IP Logged | ||
I thought this, too. And I swear I've seen pictures of street signs written in Hebrew, TV channels with Hewbrew captions and subtitles, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6767 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 8 of 43 23 July 2007 at 3:33am | IP Logged | ||
What you've seen is Modern Hebrew, which some linguists go so far as to consider a European (Slavic) language with Hebrew vocabulary and inflections. Modern Hebrew differs (significantly) in vocabulary, idiom, grammar, and pronunciation from ancient Hebrew, and it has not come about through millennia of native speakers passing on their language. They're certainly closely related languages, but the same? It's hard to see it that way. Edited by Captain Haddock on 23 July 2007 at 3:33am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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