Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - RE: Semitic Vowels, addendum

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Buth <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "Trevor & Julie Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>
  • Cc: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Semitic Vowels, addendum
  • Date: Mon, 3 Sep 2001 03:44:00 -0400


shalom

I'll add a note to Trevor's:

In comparison to the hundreds of cuneiform signs that were being
used "out West" in Kana`an for what was a foreign language,
the alphabet without vowels was a
tremendous simplification. For the Phoenician crystalization, that
meant only 22 symbols, something even non-professionals could
learn.

As for no vowels, we leave out intonation and tone, something that
drives people crazy in many subSaharan languages. Yet things arent
so bad in either case--at least not for a fluent speaker. Arabic and
Hebrew function fine without vowels, though probably not as efficiently
as a latin-type alphabet could have been.

The real problem of vowelless texts is for the outsider and learner.
For that, I recommend using vocalized texts, contrary to typical ulpan
practice in Israel. Learning the thousands of words necessary for full
communication requires fast, contextualized input, made possible by
vocalized texts. Learning to read unvocalized texts is no problem at
all--if the person already knows the language.

bivraxot
Randall Buth



  • RE: Semitic Vowels, addendum, Randall Buth, 09/03/2001

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page