How to analyze Hebrew lexemes from two different passages

[wallacemj7]

I am an Accordance newbie, but am looking for help with a rather complicated task. I am a ThM student and am writing my thesis primarily on Genesis 2-3 and Exodus 3-4. I want to do a lexeme analysis to determine if there is any interesting Hebrew overlap that I'm not currently seeing. Can anyone help me figure out if Accordance can do this type of analysis? Thank you!

[darrylmy]

Hi @wallacemj7, welcome! You should read the ETS paper by Robert Marineau. He presented on this type of research using Accordance. (If I recall correctly, he also posted quite a bit on this topic during that time period as well which may be of additional help.) Here is a link to his paper.

[Kristin]

Hi @wallacemj7,

I have not read the paper which @darrylmy mentioned, so maybe this is already addressed there, but I just wanted to mention that I think you can do what you are describing using the INFER command. I am not an expert on that command, so I can't really clarify how to do it specifically, but I would look into that.

Here is the results for "infer" but also, if you go to the "Help" in Accordance, you can search for it there.

 

http://accordancefiles2.com/helpfiles/OSX13/Default.htm#topics/06_braa/infer_6.htm?Highlight=infer

 

Kristin
 

[wallacemj7]

Thank you both for your suggestions. While INFER is certainly helpful, as far as I can tell, that action performs a broad search of the whole HB corpus to determine if there are any parallels. I am particularly seeking to compare and find parallels between two predetermined passages (Gen 2-3, Exo 3-4). Even looking at the article and the website above, I cannot find a way to make that happen. Does anyone else have ideas? Thanks!

[Sean R.]

If I'm understanding you correctly, the INFER command should allow you to accomplish this. Follow these steps:

 

First, open the HB in a tab. Do a verse search for Genesis 2-3.

 

Second, open another HB. Enter the INFER command and, from the dialog, select the first HB as the source. You can also adjust your search parameters by setting number of words in phrase, etc. Click OK to close the dialog box.

 

Finally, before running the search, append [RANGE Ex 3-4] to your search criteria. It should look something like this:

[RANGE Ex3-4]‎ [INFER 4 Hebrew Bible (Biblia Hebraica) Tagged]

 

Hit enter, and your search will run. Now you are comparing Genesis 2-3 with only Exodus 3-4 rather than the whole HB.

 

Is this what you're aiming for?

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Sean R.

[darrylmy]

1 hour ago, wallacemj7 said:

Does anyone else have ideas?

 

Here is a search that I put together:

 

Notice a few things:

 

- Zone 1 (Left): There is a custom range for Gen 2–3 and there is a search for all words in that range

- Zone 3 (Right): The INFER command is being used to search for 5 words (adjust as desired) in a phrase from the hit words in Zone 1

- Zone 2 (Middle): The results of the search in Zone 3 after right clicking the section וַיֹּאמֶר֩ יְהוָ֨ה and choosing, "Search Back Linked Text"

 

Note: you may have to play with the selection for searching the back linked text (e.g., in the screenshot above, I chose that verse because it illustrates that if you do not select the particle with the pronominal suffix it will do a straight search, but by selecting it, Accordance will default to the FUZZY search [among which the same results will be contained]).

 

Hope that helps that get you started.