Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Henry Churchyard <churchyh AT ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>]

> From decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca  Thu Jul 22 23:41:56 1999
> Subject: 8 tiberian vowels, 3 rtr grades and round
> From: Vincent DeCaen <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>
> Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 16:22:22 -0400 (EDT)

> just a note.  we actually employ a phonetic system with three grades
> of pathah posited: front, central and back.  we assume the constrast
> is nonphonemic and does not appear in the orthography; but it makes
> for a clean simple grammar.  on this view, back *cannot* be the same
> as round, since [back RTR] must be nonround ex hypothesi.

Hmm, not sure there's much difference between a low central vowel and
a low back unrounded vowel in an actual phonetic sense (as opposed to
slots in an abstract rectangular chart).  Anyway, if you depart from
the orthography in this case, why not go all the way and accept the
existence of phonemically long vowels?  ;-)

> congrats on the phd.

Thanks.

--
Henry Churchyard   churchyh AT ccwf.cc.utexas.edu   http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/