Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Henry Churchyard <churchh AT usa.net>]

> Subject: Re: constructs and vowel length
> From: "Robert Holmstedt" <rdholmst AT students.wisc.edu>
> Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 12:25:53 -0500

> /a/ seems to act differently in the present of the bilabial /m/ (if
> Jouon-Muraoka par. 88Bg is correct), e.g. kaf, par, har, but `a:m
> 'people' and ya:m 'sea' (both with qamets, presumably the Masoretic
> low central vowel which represents the historical short /a/ and
> sometimes the historical short /u/)

But `am in its "resting state" (unsuffixed un-prefixed absolute
non-pausal form) normally has pathah..  Note that qames. represents
a _lengthened_ historical short /a/ and an _unlengthened_ historical
short /u/ (not before a geminate consonant).

--
Henry Churchyard   churchh AT usa.net   http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/



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