Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Peter:

There was a consonental pronunciation change, 
was any of that reflected in the writing?

There was a certain amount of fluidity in vowel 
letter usage all along, so an increased usage 
may or may not be an indicator of continued 
native speech. But where are the changes in 
consonantal usage to indicate change in 
pronunciation?

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>

> 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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