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b-hebrew - Re: BH transcript/Tiberian phonetics, Churchyard

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  • From: Peter_Kirk AT sil.org
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: BH transcript/Tiberian phonetics, Churchyard
  • Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 20:35 -0500 (EST)


Your discussions of BH pronunciation and transcription, and Henry's
thesis, are very interesting to me, but sometimes a bit beyond me. But
you in turn may be interested in the following observations from an
analogous situation, the pronunciation of the vowels in Arabic loan
words in various languages in and around the part of the world where I
work. These tables are simplified: certain morphophonemic changes in
specific environments are ignored, as are local variations, and the
phonetic values are approximate:

Underlying Arabic i: i a: a u: u

Azerbaijani i: i a: fronted a u: fronted u

Farsi i e open o front a u high o
or back a

Uzbek i: i open o a u fronted o

Tajik (?) i: i open o a u: u

Some length distinction may be preserved in Farsi and Uzbek also.

Thus, apparently, the a vowels are given a Sephardi type pronunciation
in Azerbaijan and an Ashkenazi type one in Uzbekistan. Paradoxically,
the Sephardi (Mountain) Jews in Azerbaijan, when speaking their own
(Farsi related) language, pronounce a: as open o in a more Ashkenazi
manner!

Peter Kirk




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