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Semantics of glory : a cognitive, corpus-based approach to Hebrew word meaning

The concept of ‘glory’ is one of the most significant themes in the Hebrew Bible, lying at the heart of God’s self-disclosure in biblical revelation. Yet, while the concept has received theological treatment, and while various relevant Hebrew roots have individually benefited from linguistic survey, the group of lexemes surrounding this concept is as yet untouched by a comprehensive semantic study. Through indepth semantic study this thesis offers a clearer understanding of the interrelations and differences between the Classical Hebrew lexemes centring around the concept of ‘glory’. The first chapter opens with a critical examination of both structuralist and cognitivist approaches to semantic research, focussing particularly on their historical use and current applicability to the study of ancient languages. It outlines the superior claims of cognitive semantics accurately to model patterns of language usage, addressing the challenges inherent in the application of such an approach to ancient language. The proposed methodology is characterised as cognitive in nature, focussed on both lexical interrelations (relational) and the internal composition of lexemes (decompositional), exhaustive in relating lexemes to each other point by point, and based on the entirety of the Classical Hebrew corpus. Finally, this chapter discusses issues relating to the limited, diachronic and fragmentary nature of the Classical Hebrew corpus. The second chapter delineates the boundaries of the semantic domain of כבוד . It opens with a methodological discussion introducing parallel terms and word pairs as valuable tools in the objective identification of semantically related terms. Proposing the theory that members of a semantic domain will regularly co-occur, it systematically analyses firstly the extant word associations of כבוד itself and secondly of those lexemes recurring in association with it, accepting or rejecting each as a member of its semantic domain on the basis of word associations. This process results in the identification of eleven lexemes as members of the semantic domain of The concept of ‘glory’ is one of the most significant themes in the Hebrew Bible, lying at the heart of God’s self-disclosure in biblical revelation. Yet, while the concept has received theological treatment, and while various relevant Hebrew roots have individually benefited from linguistic survey, the group of lexemes surrounding this concept is as yet untouched by a comprehensive semantic study. Through indepth semantic study this thesis offers a clearer understanding of the interrelations and differences between the Classical Hebrew lexemes centring around the concept of ‘glory’. The first chapter opens with a critical examination of both structuralist and cognitivist approaches to semantic research, focussing particularly on their historical use and current applicability to the study of ancient languages. It outlines the superior claims of cognitive semantics accurately to model patterns of language usage, addressing the challenges inherent in the application of such an approach to ancient language. The proposed methodology is characterised as cognitive in nature, focussed on both lexical interrelations (relational) and the internal composition of lexemes (decompositional), exhaustive in relating lexemes to each other point by point, and based on the entirety of the Classical Hebrew corpus. Finally, this chapter discusses issues relating to the limited, diachronic and fragmentary nature of the Classical Hebrew corpus. The second chapter delineates the boundaries of the semantic domain of כבוד . It opens with a methodological discussion introducing parallel terms and word pairs as valuable tools in the objective identification of semantically related terms. Proposing the theory that members of a semantic domain will regularly co-occur, it systematically analyses firstly the extant word associations of כבוד itself and secondly of those lexemes recurring in association with it, accepting or rejecting each as a member of its semantic domain on the basis of word associations. This process results in the identification of eleven lexemes as members of the semantic domain of The concept of ‘glory’ is one of the most significant themes in the Hebrew Bible, lying at the heart of God’s self-disclosure in biblical revelation. Yet, while the concept has received theological treatment, and while various relevant Hebrew roots have individually benefited from linguistic survey, the group of lexemes surrounding this concept is as yet untouched by a comprehensive semantic study. Through indepth semantic study this thesis offers a clearer understanding of the interrelations and differences between the Classical Hebrew lexemes centring around the concept of ‘glory’. The first chapter opens with a critical examination of both structuralist and cognitivist approaches to semantic research, focussing particularly on their historical use and current applicability to the study of ancient languages. It outlines the superior claims of cognitive semantics accurately to model patterns of language usage, addressing the challenges inherent in the application of such an approach to ancient language. The proposed methodology is characterised as cognitive in nature, focussed on both lexical interrelations (relational) and the internal composition of lexemes (decompositional), exhaustive in relating lexemes to each other point by point, and based on the entirety of the Classical Hebrew corpus. Finally, this chapter discusses issues relating to the limited, diachronic and fragmentary nature of the Classical Hebrew corpus. The second chapter delineates the boundaries of the semantic domain of כבוד . It opens with a methodological discussion introducing parallel terms and word pairs as valuable tools in the objective identification of semantically related terms. Proposing the theory that members of a semantic domain will regularly co-occur, it systematically analyses firstly the extant word associations of כבוד itself and secondly of those lexemes recurring in association with it, accepting or rejecting each as a member of its semantic domain on the basis of word associations. This process results in the identification of eleven lexemes as members of the semantic domain of כבוד.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:630287
Date January 2014
CreatorsBurton, Marilyn Elizabeth
ContributorsReimer, David; Barstad, Hans
PublisherUniversity of Edinburgh
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://hdl.handle.net/1842/9573

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