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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] CV syllables, was music in Hebrew

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Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] CV syllables, was music in Hebrew
  • Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2006 21:17:22 +0000

On 04/02/2006 20:01, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

... That the
spelling may have been updated (a suggestion with which you "have no
problem") suggests two things: 1) that Hebrew was spoken or used after
the exile in the form to which the spelling was updated -- it makes little
sense that they updated the spelling to reflect some never existing form,
if so, why update? 2) there may have been developments in Hebrew from
the stage present in the inscriptional pre-exilic material, and the stage
represented in the Torah -- such as sound changes, as well as other
types.

The kinds of spelling change I have in mind are use of more matres lectionis. A trend towards full rather than defective holam and hiriq is clearly visible from inscriptional Hebrew to late biblical Hebrew, with the Torah somewhere in between. This change probably does not reflect an actual change in the language, but only a desire to clarify and disambiguate the pronunciation. There may have been sound changes as well, but there is no evidence that there was. These are just spelling conventions, not indications of language change. So I repeat that there is no evidence that the language of the Torah is different from pre-exilic Hebrew.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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