Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>]

> >мука as flour is a new word. The original root is min - mon - mok - muk.
I'm
> >not an expert in Russian linguistics, but the root is the same "min" as
in
> >разминать (make softer). мука as torment is from mit - mot root, as in
> >мутить.
>
> Thank you. But the age and derivation of these words is irrelevant.

Irrelevant?? What is a value of an example of mutated words?

> >There is a huge difference between unmarked stress and vowels.
> >Unmarked stress differentiation appeared in highly developed language
with
> >fluent speakers, while unmarked vowels should be suitable for humans just
> >beginning to talk.
>
> Are you talking about children? Or are you claiming that the Hebrews and
> other Semites of the biblical period had only just evolved to a level of
> intelligence at which they were able to talk?

Speech is a physical ability, not directly related to intelligence. Early
humans had limited speech abilities.

What it all boils to, is that dropping vowels in writing is highly unlikely.
Not impossible, but bizarre, meaningless, and unlikely. In the end, nothing
is impossible. But if the earliest Semitic speakers had diversified vowels,
it is highly implausible that they omitted them in writing.

And I suggest a mechanism of a single vowel sound plausibly evolving into
all modern vowels.

Vadim Cherny