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  • From: Rasmus Underbjerg Pinnerup <pinnerup AT privat.dk>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Are peh, taw and kaf aspirated in Biblical Hebrew?
  • Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 20:52:25 +0200

Dear B-Hebrew-members,

I apologize in advance if my question is trivial, but I have not been able to find the answer for myself in any of the grammars at my disposition.

The grammars mention, of course, the twofold pronunciation of the begadkefath-letters, but as to the plosive pronunciation of peh, taw and kaf, they only mention that they are unvoiced plosives - they do not mention whether they are aspirated or not. Occasionally I have found texts that mention aspiration and the lack of same in these letters, but it has always been clear from the context that by "aspiration" they really meant "friction" - that is they use "aspirated" to signify that a begadkefath-letter is to be pronounced raphe (as a fricative), not to say whether it is actually aspirated (that is, as English "t" in "tome") or unaspirated (as English "t" in "stop").

I would be very pleased if any of you could help me settle this matter. Also - when did the spiratization that led to the twofold pronuncation of the begadkefath-letters set in? And in this process, did they go through a stage of aspiration before becoming fricative?

Sincerely,
Rasmus Underbjerg Pinnerup

--
"[...] Den enkelte Moabit er ikke et Udsnit af en Masse moabitiske
Individer, men en Aabenbarelse af »Moabithed«, ligesom den enkelte Ko
er en fuldgyldig Fremtrædelsesform for »Kohed«."
- Johannes Pedersens "Israel" (bind I, side nogen og firs)






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