--- title: "Towards a Common Aim and Framework for Tools — O'Rear 2019" description: "A position paper from SIL on how scholarly tool-building for the biblical languages could serve Bible translation. The author observes that the digital…" authors: ["Paul A. O'Rear"] year: 2019 venue: "HIPHIL Novum 5" source: "https://doi.org/10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735" doi: "10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735" licence: "HIPHIL Novum vols 1–8: free to read, no CC licence (all rights reserved to the authors) — read only" licence_url: "https://tidsskrift.dk/hiphilnovum/about" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hbo-2019-o-rear-towards-common-aim-framework-tools/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hbo-2019-o-rear-towards-common-aim-framework-tools/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2019](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2019/page/5/) / Towards a Common Aim and Framework for Tools and Research in Support of Bible Translation and Biblical Language Online Learning # Towards a Common Aim and Framework for Tools and Research in Support of Bible Translation and Biblical Language Online Learning **Authors:** Paul A. O'Rear · **Year:** 2019 · **Venue:** HIPHIL Novum 5(2), 70–77 **Link:** [tidsskrift.dk/hiphilnovum/article/view/142735](https://tidsskrift.dk/hiphilnovum/article/view/142735) · **Licence:** copyrighted — summary only (free to read, no CC licence) [**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W3116484421) OpenAlex · 2026-10-14 · [HIPHIL Novum 5](https://openalex.org/S5406958382) · [licence](https://tidsskrift.dk/hiphilnovum/about) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735) - [PDF](https://tidsskrift.dk/hiphilnovum/article/download/142735/186437) - [DOI 10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735](https://doi.org/10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W3116484421) **Authors (1)** 1. [Paul A. O'Rear](https://openalex.org/A5082174750) [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2284804797) · h 0 · 0 citations · 1 works Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about A position paper from SIL on how scholarly tool-building for the biblical languages could serve Bible translation. The author observes that the digital humanities community produces many tools and datasets but has no shared aim, and contrasts the needs of translators (simple, synthesised recommendations, high demand) with those of consultants and scholars (specialised analysis, debate, low demand). SIL's three series, Translator's Notes, Exegetical Summaries and Semantic and Structure Analyses, span that range. His concrete proposal: define a list of language features that do not transfer between languages (verbal nouns, genitive phrases, passives, implicit information, event order, metaphor, euphemism, litotes, irony, rhetorical questions, key terms…), and build exhaustive verse lists for each, in a shared exportable format, as the raw material for synthesis. ## Ideas - I1. Exhaustive per-feature verse lists are exactly what a rule-based parser can produce: for each feature `prag` or the trees can detect (rhetorical questions, passives, construct "of" chains, verbal nouns/infinitives, litotes such as לֹא + negative evaluation), emit a list of Torah verse ids with the rule that fired, as a TSV, and publish it with the manual. - I2. Use the paper's feature list (after Barnwell 1986) as a checklist of what [languages/hbo/09-discourse.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/09-discourse/) and `08-syntax.md` should cover with a "how Mova detects it" line; mark the ones Mova cannot yet detect as gaps in chapter 13. ## For Mova I1 is an output mode for `macula prag` (a per-feature list with verse ids, cheap since the rules exist), and fits the parse database. I2 is an editorial check on [languages/hbo/08-syntax.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/08-syntax/), `09-discourse.md` and the gaps section of `13-mova-tools.md`. The paper itself has no linguistic analysis. ## Cite The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735](https://doi.org/10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735) ```bibtex @inproceedings{orear2019common, title = {{Towards a Common Aim and Framework for Tools and Research in Support of Bible Translation and Biblical Language Online Learning}}, author = {O'Rear, Paul A.}, booktitle = {HIPHIL Novum 5}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735}, url = {https://doi.org/10.7146/hn.v5i2.142735} } ``` - [← previous Topic Tensor Network for Implicit Discourse Relation Recognition in Chinese](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/xu-2019-topic-tensor-network-implicit-discourse/) - [next → Towards an adequate account of parataxis in Universal Dependencies](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/ud-2019-ahrenberg-adequate-account-parataxis-universal-dependencies/) - [↑ back to papers of 2019](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2019/page/5/) ## References 3 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Barnwell, Katharine. Bible Translation: An Introductory Course for Mother-Tongue Translators. Dallas: SIL International, 1986. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Barnwell%2C+Katharine%2E+Bible+Translation%3A+An+Introductory+Course+for+Mother%2DTongue+Translators%2E+Dallas%3A+SIL+International%2C+1986%2E) 2. Barnwell, Katharine, Paul Dancy, and Anthony G. Pope. Key Biblical Terms in the New Testament: An Aid for Bible Translators. Dallas: SIL International, 2009. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Barnwell%2C+Katharine%2C+Paul+Dancy%2C+and+Anthony+G%2E+Pope%2E+Key+Biblical+Terms+in+the+New+Testament%3A+An+Aid+for+Bible+Translators%2E+Dallas%3A+SIL+International%2C+2009%2E) 3. SIL International. Rhetorical Questions in the New Testament: A Checklist for Translators. Dallas: SIL International, 1999. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=SIL+International%2E+Rhetorical+Questions+in+the+New+Testament%3A+A+Checklist+for+Translators%2E+Dallas%3A+SIL+International%2C+1999%2E)