[b-hebrew] Geminates

George Athas George.Athas at moore.edu.au
Mon May 18 20:26:08 EDT 2009


Isaac,

The list is aware of your take on doubling. You are, of course, entitled to your minority opinion. I would simply point you to how geminate roots work morphologically. If the dagesh forte does not double, then you have to explain why certain consonant inexplicably disappear. Take, for example, the forms of SBB ('to surround'). In many conjugations, both instances of beth are present (e.g.. Qal infinitive abs.), but in others, there is only one, and it carries dagesh forte (e.g. Qal imperative masc. pl.).

Doubling has explanatory power, and avoids the recourse to a highly questionable uniconsontal conceptualisation of the Hebrew language.



Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au



More information about the b-hebrew mailing list