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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Why Semitic languages had no written vowels?

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  • From: Trevor Peterson <abuian AT access4less.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Why Semitic languages had no written vowels?
  • Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 15:45:31 -0400

Vadim Cherny wrote:

Even omitting the prefixes, vowels show the form.
In most cases, vowels are the only morphological instruments.

I assume you're blending derivational and inflectional morphology.


You have brought up the distinction between Qal and Piel, but from
working with Ugaritic, I can tell you that even from the
remote perspective of a modern scholar, we can usually
select the appropriate stem form.


How? I don't think that meaning of paal and piel so diverges that it could
be usually derived from context.

Partly you seem to be oversimplifying the relationship, which happens to be one of the most notoriously difficult in derivational morphology. There are plenty of cases where the difference is obvious. Partly there is a diachronic issue here. If we're supposed to be talking about a stage that far predates attested West Semitic languages, who's to say that the force of the Piel wasn't quite different, or perhaps even non-existent?

[snipped]

I'm not an expert on writing systems, but I didn't hear of any other
vowelless script. When Sumerians created cuneiform for developed multi-vowel
language, they resorted to syllabary. Why no equivalent stage in West
Semitic?

I don't recall you answering my question about other alphabetic systems that have arisen from scratch, complete with vowels. But while you're thinking about it, I'll provide an answer here. A syllabary must always have a larger inventory of signs and is therefore more difficult to master. The point of the West Semitic innovation in borrowing from Egyptian was to create a simpler sign set, which could not have been done with a syllabary. Since that was the only other way that vowels had been represented up to this point, it's perfectly understandable why they wouldn't have gone in that direction.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics




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