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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Fw: WAYYIQTOL

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Karl Randolph <kwrandolph AT email.com>
  • Cc: Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Fw: WAYYIQTOL
  • Date: Tue, 09 Mar 2004 16:08:56 -0800

On 09/03/2004 16:00, Karl Randolph wrote:

...
Another evidence of fossil use of the language is the fossilization of spelling during a time of pronunciation shift. The pronunciations preserved by the Masorites were not the same as those spoken even at the end of the Galut Babel. (Frozen spellings are fairly rare in living languages, ...


And there are no frozen spellings in Hebrew in the period in question. Note for example the rise of the use of alef as a vowel letter, almost unknown in the Hebrew Bible (apart from the Aramaic sections) but common in the DSS I understand. Note also the increasing use of vav and yod as vowel letters (already partly seen in Chronicles, relative to parallel passages in Samuel and Kings) - the result being that long vowels were almost always marked (as in Arabic, but not a sign of Arabic influence of course). Good evidence that there was a living language.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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