Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

The reduction is very strong in Russian,but, I think, it is also evident in
English. Compare "to record" and "recOrd!" The last, as I hear it, is more
like r'coord. I hear the same thing in German. This is only natural.
Imperative is distinguished by syntactical stress on the second vowel, which
is therefore elongated. The first vowel is accordingly shortened.
Accordingly, I expect, catav with imperative syntactical stress to elongate
the second vowel and reduce the first, catav - c'taav - c'tov.

Vadim Cherny



> cross-linguistically in imperatives: reduction of first vowel, emphatic
> elongation of the second.
>
> let's go - l'ts goo!
> record - r'cOrd!
>
> Perhaps in other languages; but in English "l'ts go" will not be
> encountered, and the reduction in "r'cord" distinguishes verb from noun,
> not imperative from other verbal forms.
>
> Stoney Breyer
> Writer/Touchwood
>
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