Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <abuian AT access4less.net>]

Vadim Cherny wrote:

> Obviously, vowels already developed by the time of Ugarit, and likely
> already in Sumer. What I suggest, is that original version of Semitic lacked
> distinguishable vowels. This created the vowelless writing. Cuneiform
> developed as more advanced writing system - already seemingly with different
> vowels. By the time Biblical Hebrew emerged, vowels were long
> differentiated, but the writing system preserved the earliest concept of
> single-vowel language.

So you think the West Semitic script predates cuneiform?

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics