Re: Just a Little Taste of Judean (Part 2)

Steg Belsky wrote:
> I was thinking, would it be possible for articles to just simply be
> adopted from a previously-known language that has them?
Nope.  It's possible to borrow the *concept* of articles, but when a
concept is borrowed, it's always formed by internal resources, i.e.,
something that already exists in the language is turned into that; in
the case of definite articles, demonstratives are the most likely
source.

> Not trying to self-inflate or anything, but literacy levels among Jews
> have always been substantially higher than in the surrounding
> populations
Even so, it's highly unlikely for a language to be adopted SOLELY thru
writing.  For one thing, even if every Jew at the time was literate,
what good would that do them to be able to READ and WRITE Latin if they
couldn't speak or understand it?  Are they going to write notes to other
Romans?  Most other Romans wouldn't understand it, especially
considering that most of the Romans they'd be dealing with would be
illiterate soldiers.

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