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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Was Schewa really silent?

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: joel AT exc.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Was Schewa really silent?
  • Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 13:37:56 -0400

Joel,

1. Your advice: "pronounce the schewa only when you have to" is good, except that in my opinion you never have to, and that Hebrew sounds better without it. A little bit of vocal discipline goes a long way towards producing a crisper language. Whenever you feel the necessity to enter an E insert instead a tiny gap. Thus, I read what you mark as hal'lu as HAL[ ]LU not HAL[E]LU. I also resist the pull of the initial Schwaic L, M, N, R, Y for an added E. Thus I read in Psalms 23:5 R[ ]VAYAH not R[E]VAYAH, as one commonly hears. Likewise it is B [ ])ER, 'well', not B[E]ER, also B[ ](ERAH, 'conflagration', not B[E] (ERAH, also T[ ])ENAH, 'fig', not T[E])ENAH, also B[ ](ULAH, 'married', not B[E](ULAH, which sounds like BE-(ULAH, 'in her yoke'.
2. As I said earlier I willingly pronounce, with the rest of the nation of Israel, all initial non-radical V-, B-, K-, L-, M- as VE-, BE, KE, LE, ME-. Thus I read VET of Genesis 1:1 as VE-ET. But otherwise, with an initial radical V, it is VLADOT, 'new born'.
3. In spoken Hebrew Alef and Ayin are not stops anymore and Schwaic Alef or Ayin are realized now as the previous vowel. Thus NE)DAR, 'sublime, supreme, magnificent, awesome' of Exodus 15:11 is pronounced now NE[E]DAR to provide a clumsy hint that the word is from the root )DR, but even here I would pronounce it NE[ ]DAR. Similarly, BMA(GLEI, 'in circles, in paths' of Psalms 23:3 is pronounced B[E]MA[A]GLEI, but even here I would prefer B[E]MA[ ]GLEI.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Sep 3, 2007, at 10:43 AM, joel AT exc.com wrote:

I have noted a number of theoretical posts on shewa, but have rarely
found any concrete guidance, the form of which a student can take and

For practical purposes, the single rule, "pronounce the schewa only
when you have to" works very well. In a context like YIKh'TOV, people
will naturally not pronounce the schewa, while in contexts like
"hal'lu," they will tend to pronounce it.

Similarly, transliterating every schewa with an aprostrophe will give
useful guidance to those trying to pronounce Hebrew.

-Joel

Joel M. Hoffman, PhD
http://www.lashon.net/JMH
http://caje33.lashon.net

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