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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Past tense with gutterals
  • Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:01:05 +0300

It's amazing how posts on this subject by native Israeli speakers have been ignored. Modern Israeli Hebrew does not pronounce aleph and ayin as "silent letters". Both are usually stops. Many Israelis do distinguish an aleph from an ayin, although often the difference is sublte. Certainly in cases where the pronounciation is what makes the difference between m. and f., it will be emphasized. So the f. form is definately nat(a, while the m. is nata (which some would pronounce nata( ).

Yigal Levin
----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Glas" <dannyams AT aol.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 1:59 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Past tense with gutterals


Yes, in the standard Modern Hebrew pronunciation they sound the same - nata
and nata. This is because they don't pronounce the shwa na in nat'ah
(feminine form) , distinguish between the patah and kamatz, nor distinquish
between the ayin and hei (silent).



Also, the correct form in Modern Hebrew IS bahara, though many native
speakers WOULD say it without the A, as I've experienced. You're right,
technically the heth is a guttural, but it's not pronounced as such in
Modern Hebrew; rather it's pronounced like the velar fricative khaf. The
subtle A sound was there to begin with to facilitate the guttural sound with
a shwa na (hataf patah is regarded as a shwa na). But since the heth is not
pronounced as a guttural nor is the shwa na pronounced, the A effectively
has no real function anymore in modern Hebrew. That might be why many
pronounce it without since there's no practical reason why is should be any
different than akhla ("ate" - with a khaf). I've heard many say shohtim (no
A sound).



In the case of the ayin and alef, however, which both have the same sound
(or lack thereof), i.e. silent, the vowel sound cannot so easily be omitted.



Hope this helps.









Daniel Glas

Brooklyn, NY









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