From: CWestf5155 (CWestf5155@aol.com)
Date: Thu Jan 08 1998 - 13:48:29 EST
Dear Wes,
In a message dated 98-01-08 11:17:41 EST, you write:
> The recent precision that was brought to bear on noun classification I
> found extremely helpful (generic nouns, mass and count nouns,
> qualitative nouns, abstract nouns, etc.). Can anyone recommend some very
> good resources that assists understanding this area of "applied/
> practical
> linguistics?"
>
> I found the following resources on the UBS web page
> (www.biblesociety.org) catalog for translators. Are
> these exceptionally good or are there others that are exceptionally
> better so that I do not order them blindly?
>
>
Though I understand that you are particularly interested in noun
classification, let me back up and give an overview on linguistics and
biblical studies. I'm doing this for two reasons: first, it may give you an
idea on other places to look, and two, it may provide a needed context for the
info provided. I'm sure there are others on the list who could do a better
job (Michael Palmer? Rod Decker?) but I'll give this a try.
The application of linguistics to biblical studies is still a frontier. That
means there is not as much law and order as there seems to be in conventional
grammars, and there may not be a good definitive study on the area in which
you are interested.
The applications of linguistics to bible translation are based either on one
of maybe five identifiable school of linguistics or on an eclectic model.
Here are five schools of linguistics that have influenced bible translation
and discourse analysis:
1. South African (J. P. Louw)
2. Summer Institute of Linguistics (Eugene Nida, Robert Longacre)
3. English--Systemic Linguistics (Mark Halliday, R. Hasan)
4. Scandinavian (Olson Helholm?)
5. Germanic (Jeffrey Hartman)
In my observation, the first three have had the most influence on biblical
studies done in English. The first two are grounded in Biblical studies and
translation, but the third is a secular model that was developed by a linguist
for the use of language in human development and education. The fact that
there are at least five schools, and then a number of eclectic models thrown
together for a particular study (such as George Guthrie in his discourse
analysis of Hebrews), contributes to a lot of confusion on approaches, terms
and definitions of terms.
At this point, I recommend Halliday as a powerful model with a couple of
qualifiers. First, he is not focused on linguistics applied to translation
(nor biblical studies--though Jeffrey Reed and Stan Porter applied some of his
principles). You may find your special interests touched upon, you will not
find them targeted. You may have to work through the application of his
principles to your area of interest. Second, since his principles are
usually drawn from English, so you would have to judge as to whether they
would apply universally. He has published a number of works, but I'll
recommend three, and Jeffrey Reed's recent publication.
*Cohesion in English*, English Language Series 9 (Longman, London, 1976).
This probably has the most material that would apply directly to your
questions about nouns.
*An Introduction to Functional Grammar*, (Edward Arnold, London, 1985).
*Language, Context and Text,* (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1989).
The first two are still in print, but are large books and rather technical.
The third is easier to read and is fairly short. You should be able to get
all three with DPL's inter-library loan--or you could copy some of my stuff.
Jeffrey Reed summarizes and applies Halliday to biblical studies in Chapter 1
of *A Discourse Analysis of Philippians* Sheffield Academic Press,
Supplemetal Series, 1997. He describes in about 100 pages. I'm not sure if
it is available yet, but it should be out any time if not.
Cindy Westfall
Doctoral student, Roehampton
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