Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Vincent DeCaen <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>]

> From: alfred.silberman AT lmco.com (Al Silberman)
> Subject: Re: qametz hatuf
> Cc: Jim West <jwest AT Highland.Net>

> >its this one-    t:  (i.e.- the little t of the qametz with the shewa)- the
> >qametz hatuf is a half vowel, pronounced as a shor "o".
> 
> In the time of the "Rishonim" (11th through 15th centuries approximately)
> the terminology distinguished between a "xatuf qametz" and a "qametz
> xatuf". A "xatuf qametz" - term still used today - is a schwa written in
> combination with a qametz. The "qametz xatuf" is written as a qametz alone
> and is today called a qametz qatan - the short vowel form for the xolem.

alfred, jim,

I hope this gets through to y'all. as far as I know, it may disappear
in cyberspace. ;-)

qametz qatan is an innovation, indeed a fiction. I refer you to
sources with bibliography to follow this up: Geoffrey Kahn, "Vowel
Length and Syllable Structure in the Tiberian Tradition of Biblical
Hebrew" Journal of Semitic Studies 1987; again, "The Tiberian
Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew" Zeitschrift fur
Althebraistik 1996; Richard Goerwitz, "Tiberian Hebrew Pausal Forms" U
Chicago diss, 1993; Johnson and Goerwitz, "A Simple Practical System
for Transliterating Tiberian Hebrew Vowels" Hebrew Studies 1995; also
if you can find it, Bruno Chiesa, 1979, The Emergence of Hebrew
Biblical Pointing. also in progress DeCaen, "A Concise Linguistic
Introduction to Standard Biblical Hebrew" ;-)

the idea is simple: seven vowels for seven signs. crucially, qametz is
always a low back *open* o everywhere. surface "length" if present was
automatic based on stress and syllable type. hatef is a signal that an
open syllable was not "long". period.  quite a bit different from
later traditions. makes for an interesting phonology of Tiberian
Hebrew as well.

cheers.
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Vincent DeCaen, Ph.D.                                
<decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>
Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto

Hebrew Syntax Encoding Initiative
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~decaen/hsei/intro.html
c/o Deparment of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
4 Bancroft Ave., 2d floor,  University of Toronto,  Toronto ON,  M5S 1A1

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