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b-hebrew - RE: [b-hebrew] Re: Ancient pronunciation of biblical names

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  • From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • To: "Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Re: Ancient pronunciation of biblical names
  • Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:44:17 -0500

Shai:

Where is ‘contributed’ pronounced with the emphasis on ‘con’? As a native
speaker (of American variety, at least) I have always heard the emphasis on
‘trib’.

However, your theory may be correct, in that I was taught that medieval
Hebrew, if not earlier, had its emphasis wherever possible on the final
syllable. Thus the first syllable would tend to atrophy.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shai Heijmans" <shaih AT post.tau.ac.il>

> Hi Michael,
>
> Reduction of unstressed vowels is a very normal process in all
> languages; you don't need to have special factors.
>
> Take for example your sentence:
>
> > I asked for theories about what
> > linguistic factors might have contributed to the
> > reduction of the first syllables
>
> Look carefully, and you see that almost all unstressed vowels are
> reduced. Take for instance the word "con-tri-bu-ted". The primary stress
> in in CON and the secondary is in BU. The rest of the vowels are reduced
> to shwa (TRI, TED). And the same with "asked", "about", "factors",
> "reduction", "syllables" - all unstressed vowels have become shwa.
>
> The real question is not why vowels were reduced in Tiberian Hebrew, but
> rather what made some unstressd vowels maintain their distinct
> character. *THAT* might be the influence of Aramaic.
>
> Shai
--
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