Initial training in Navy electronics and Electrical Engineering; called into Bible translation just as that training was finishing up. Worked with SIL Philippines from 1989 to 2012 with my wife Betty and two daughters. Began in a translation project for Ayta Mag-anchi, which eventually led into a focus on linguistic and computer support for other translators. Now with SIL Dallas, continuing in a similar kind of focus.
Understanding the System of Hebrew Phrase Marking
Abstract
The text of the Hebrew Scriptures includes a mark on each word which often hasn’t been fully understood. These markings have more than one function. The one I want to focus on here is the matter of defining the phrasing, and how each phrase relates to the others around it, providing us with all the information needed to build a complete phrase structure tree for each verse.
I want to share with you –
1) That even without expertise in Hebrew, the phrase structures for each verse can now be readily viewed alongside the original text and a phrase-by-phrase English glossing, making it possible to address any semantic subtleties of the phrasing in order to make better-informed choices as we translate.
The tree displays are available for all 39 books – but the more complete display including the English glossing is a work in progress, currently available just for Genesis and a few of the smaller books.
2) The process by which these trees have been built. The process which ends up producing the right answer every time, is actually quite straightforward and can be readily reproduced with just pencil and paper.
3) Some examples from the portions of Scripture that I’ve worked through so far, which illustrate the kinds of ambiguities that can crop up as we attempt to understand the Scriptures – with the ambiguities being resolved when we take note of what the accent marks are telling us.