Taxonomy for hierarchy in corpus linguistics

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Daniel Semler
Posts: 315
Joined: February 18th, 2019, 7:45 pm

Taxonomy for hierarchy in corpus linguistics

Post by Daniel Semler »

Hi All,

This might be slightly OT for the forum but I thought I would try in case anyone has ideas.

I'm looking for ideas for naming of different levels of enclosure in a hierarchy of texts.

I am cutting some code that works on data from GNT, LXX, Philo etc. and I am needing to name stuff sensibly.
I am thinking that the properly speaking GNT and LXX and collections rather than a single work. So also the pseudepigrapha. So working up from the below and ignoring such things as character, phoneme and so on, one could posit.

Section (which could be verse, pericope, chapter depending upon preference etc).
Book (Life by Josephus, Acts by Luke etc. etc.)
Collection (a badly overloaded term I want to replace here) (say, GNT, LXX)
Corpus (a collection of works brought together according to some standard or rule - say type of language, author, age, etc.
Archive (a collection (told you collection was overloaded) of works (whatever a work is ?), across time, languages, types of work and so on - very large.

Archive and Corpus as used here come from stuff I've read in O'Donnell. Feel free to rip up and redo the lot if you want.

But primarily I am interested in finding a term, preferably having some currency in current research for the level at which LXX, GNT, Works of Josephus lie.

Thx
D
Stirling Bartholomew
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Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: Taxonomy for hierarchy in corpus linguistics

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

Just a comment. The LXX is not an entity.

Why I Don't Believe In The Septuagint - Peter J. Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmpnJ1cgh58

On the Invention and Problem of the term Septuagint - Peter Williams - ETS 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhmMKwl3KeE
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Daniel Semler
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Joined: February 18th, 2019, 7:45 pm

Re: Taxonomy for hierarchy in corpus linguistics

Post by Daniel Semler »

Stirling Bartholomew wrote: July 4th, 2019, 10:27 pm Just a comment. The LXX is not an entity.
Yeah it is - but it rather depends what you mean :) and what I mean. In my case I mean specifically Septuaginta, edited by Alfred Rahlfs, and probably should have said so.

Now, it's likely not helpful if I just muddy the waters with my own shorthand but the post wasn't about the issues of naming or what these collections contain, or when they acreted that content, all of which are interesting in their own right of course. I run across objections to my use of this term in this way on occasion. I'll probably have to choose something else. Alas everything else is longer, as Williams himself notes. In my data table I think it's "Ralhfs LXX Tagged" so it can be identified properly. I need to add a text metadata table I think - groan - data is hard. But I have to say that I don't like it when results are published and the source data is not properly identified and thus people cannot reproduce the results for themselves.
Stirling Bartholomew wrote: July 4th, 2019, 10:27 pm Why I Don't Believe In The Septuagint - Peter J. Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmpnJ1cgh58
Thanx for this. Williams video is very interesting. Lots of info. I really have to read more on the LXX (:) ) but there are, as always, other things on the list.

Mind you, some of the information in Williams video makes me wonder if the LXX (as I mean it here) should be considered an Archive rather than a corpus. Hmmm....

Thx
D
Barry Hofstetter
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Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Taxonomy for hierarchy in corpus linguistics

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Stirling Bartholomew wrote: July 4th, 2019, 10:27 pm Just a comment. The LXX is not an entity.

Why I Don't Believe In The Septuagint - Peter J. Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmpnJ1cgh58

On the Invention and Problem of the term Septuagint - Peter Williams - ETS 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhmMKwl3KeE
Yeah, this stuff is a lot of fun and important to consider for historical purposes. Lots of nuances needed. However, we all know what we mean by the LXX, the collection as it appears in 4th-5th century codices and especially א. Whatever its historical composition and collection it exists now as a collection of ancient manuscripts including translations all the canonical Hebrew with extras, of all very valuable for study. So for the sake of convenience I think it's okay to call it the Septuagint.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Devenios Doulenios
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Re: Taxonomy for hierarchy in corpus linguistics

Post by Devenios Doulenios »

I agree with using Septuagint that way. Just like I'm fine with using the term "Jerome's Vulgate" even though I'm aware he did not produce all of it--there were portions of the previous Old Latin he didn't revise, etc. We all know what is meant in such cases. And if we don't, we can ask for clarification or do some research. A difference which makes no difference is no difference.
Dewayne Dulaney
Δεβένιος Δουλένιος

Blog: https://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com/

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