Biblical Hebrew Forum

[<gs02wmr AT panther.Gsu.EDU>]

SHalum Ashtaav!

I just bought a new Hebrew Dictionary, and in the credits I found some
interesting words from the author. Example:

"Most Hebrew speakers make no distinction, in speech, between a=(Ayeen - a
guttural, pressed hiatus typical of the Semetic languages yet with no
parallel in English) and 'a' or Aleph - a normal hiatus which should be
pronounced as in 'father.' Ayeen is very much like Alef, and only true
connoisseurs and people of Arabic-speaking extraction actually pronounce
the correct way. That is, they pronounce it with a guttural inflection, of
which most Hebrew-speakers are incapable."

Is this really true in conversational Ivrit? I am very curious about the
purity of spoken Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew. How much has really been
altered and how much of Yiddish, Arabic, or others have been implanted
into the language. Why is it so difficult to pronounce the Ayeen
seperately from the Aleph?

Another interesting word it defines is:

"Chakh'chakh: m, derogative nickname for a commonly behaving young Jew of
North-African background."

I mean...is this REALLY ORIGINALLY  a pure Hebrew word????


Shalum Ashtaav, kHaverim.

Wondell M. Rachman
Hebrew PhD - wannabe