Reviewed by Mark J. Elson, University of Virginia

This reference grammar fills a much neglected gap in the arsenal of materials available to those learning Hebrew and those interested in the structure of the language. Prior to its appearance, there was no comprehensive description of the contemporary language in English other than Haiim B. Rosén’s A textbook of Israeli Hebrew (2nd edn., Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1966), which is usable, with some effort, as a reference grammar due to its relatively detailed presentation of grammatical topics reflecting Rosén’s background as a linguist as well as a pedagogue. In contrast, the book under review was written as a reference grammar, and, although it was the authors’ intention to maximize accessibility by making the presentation simple and avoiding complex linguistic analysis (xiii), the result is not primarily a resource for beginners, but for more advanced learners and linguists. It comprises fifteen chapters, including ‘Preliminary discussion’ (1–15), ‘Writing and pronunciation’ (16–32), ‘The verb system’ (33–55), ‘Verb pattern groups’ (56–124), ‘The noun system’ (125–57), ‘Pronouns’ (158–76), ‘Numerals’ (177–93), ‘Adjectives’ (194–208), ‘Adverbs and adverbial expressions’ (209–24), ‘Particles’ (225–51), ‘Noun phrases’ (252–87), ‘Verb phrases’ (288–99), ‘Modal verbs and expressions’ (300–313), ‘Clauses and sentences’ (314–63), and ‘Language in context’ (364–89). There are five appendices (390–437), and an index of grammatical topics (438–47). Facts relating to Biblical Hebrew are interspersed throughout.

The exposition is consistently clear, comprehensive, and well-exemplified. These features will be appreciated most by those who come to the book with limited, or no, background in the structure of Semitic languages. The chapters on the noun phrase, verb phrase, clause, and sentence are models of organizational clarity. The presentation and discussion of the ‘construct phrase’ (261–75)—a complex syntactic structure of pivotal importance in the syntax of the noun phrase and, in textbooks, typically dealt with in too superficial a manner to be of use to advanced learners or to linguists—is treated here in sufficient detail. The chapter on language in context contains a large amount of information of central importance to students , and typically absent in textbooks of Hebrew, which are satisfied to comment on these aspects of language in only the most shallow way, if at all.

There is one minor criticism that might be made of this otherwise fine piece of work. The occasional notes on Biblical Hebrew are often too brief to be of real value, and do not generally provide explanations that reach the level of clarity the authors offer in their explanations of synchronic phenomena. As a result, the references to biblical phenomena are less likely to be accessible to those who are acquainted only with the contemporary language but want to know something about its biblical predecessor. The section on ‘waw consecutive’ (42–44) is a good example. Even a rudimentary understanding of this construction presupposes familiarity with the concept of narrative sequence, which is mentioned by the authors but inadequately discussed and exemplified. The authors may have tried to do too much, and might better have saved the biblical information for an appendix, in which it could have been treated more extensively. It should also be noted that the initial chapter, which is a brief survey of the grammatical terminology necessary for use of the book, assumes that the reader brings a basic knowledge of grammatical concepts to the scene, and may therefore be difficult, in part, for some. Minor matters such as these aside, we have in this book a valuable source for scholars, and an aid for pedagogues as well as students.