Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Silberman, Alfred" <alfred.silberman AT lmco.com>]

I am reading the book "A History of the Hebrew Language" (English version)
by Angel Saenz-Badillos. 

On page 111 it says:
"The pronunciation of Hebrew reflected in this system [referring to the
Tiberian pronunciation -AS] is characterized by its use of seven vowel
sounds - in addition to the five basic ones, two others have been added:
qames is either realized as ...; segol is realized as ... This range of
vowels with its clear distinction between pathah and qames and sere and
segol has not been preserved in any contemporary pronunciation of
Hebrew."

What I would like to know is how such a false statement gets into a history
of the Hebrew language. I and all of Central European Jewry still use the
Tiberian pronunciation that the author states does not exist today.

How am I supposed to give any credence to claimed descriptions of Hebrew
pronunciation of three thousand years ago when today's pronunciation is
unknown to these researchers?

By the same token I find it incredible that there are linguists who are
still trying to square Tiberian pronunciation with Sephardi tradition or
Sephardi descriptions of their pronunciation. That amounts to trying to put
a square peg in a round hole.

Alfred Silberman
alfred.silberman AT lmco.com