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# An overview of recent developments in the description of Biblical Hebrew relevant to Bible translation

**Authors:** [Christo H. J. van der Merwe](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/christo-h-j-van-der-merwe/) · **Year:** 2004 (Acta Theologica 22/1, issue dated 2002) · **Venue:** Acta Theologica **Link:** [doi.org/10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462](https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462) · not in the library (PDF not downloaded, 2026-10-17) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (per publisher/OpenAlex)

[**4** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2078540007) openalex · 2026-10-18[**1** citations in our library](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/cited-by/hbo-2004-merwe-overview-recent-developments-description-biblical/) of the 140673 papers whose bibliographies we read[Acta Theologica](https://openalex.org/S79873615)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462)
- [PDF](https://www.ajol.info/index.php/actat/article/download/5462/29600)
- [DOI 10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462](https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2078540007)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Christo H. J. van der Merwe](https://openalex.org/A5065948470) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7217-2870) · h 8 · 348 citations · 58 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-18); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

**Not read: the PDF is not in the library.** From the title and the author's other surveys: a review, for Bible translators, of what linguistics changed in the description of Biblical Hebrew in the 1990s — the verbal system (aspect, tense, discourse functions of wayyiqtol and weqatal), word order and information structure (topic and focus in the pre-verbal slot), discourse markers (וְהִנֵּה, וַיְהִי, וְעַתָּה, כִּי), and cognitive-semantic lexicography (the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew). Van der Merwe is a co-author of a reference grammar and of several studies of discourse particles. Check against the text.

## Ideas

- I1. (to check) Use the survey as a checklist for the manual: every topic it names should have a section in `languages/hbo/` and a statement of how Mova handles it.
- I2. (to check) Discourse markers as a closed class with functions rather than glosses: one table (marker → function → our rule → count) in the discourse chapter.

## For Mova

I1 is an audit of `languages/hbo/` chapters 6, 8, 9 and 10; I2 goes into `09-discourse.md` and `src/prag.rs`. A survey paper: its value is the map, not new data. Re-read once the PDF is in.

Topics: [Discourse analysis](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/discourse-analysis/)

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462](https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462)

```
@inproceedings{merwe2004overview,
  title = {{An overview of recent developments in the description of Biblical Hebrew relevant to Bible translation}},
  author = {Merwe, Christo H. J. van der},
  booktitle = {Acta Theologica},
  year = {2004},
  doi = {10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v22i1.5462}
}
```

- [← previous From information structure, topic and focus, to theme in Biblical Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2004-floor-information-structure-topic-focus-theme/)
- [next → Chapter 3: Minimalist assumptions on negation in Biblical Hebrew syntax](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2004-snyman-chapter-3-minimalist-assumptions-negation/)
- [↑ back to Ancient Hebrew](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo/)