Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

I certainly agree that commands are distinguished by pitch, though also by 
vowel length and stress.
In milspeak, verbs are often pronounced as two different phonemes, vowel in 
the first one elongated. Such division into two subwords is not an option for 
normal imperatives, and compression of command into phonetically single word 
could compress it into ctov. Also, imperative verbs, unlike commands, are 
usually followed by nouns, on one breath, adding to compression of verb.

This compression works for cvcvc verbs. Later imperatives from hifil and piel 
might be simply modeled on future tense. More likely, however, is that hifil 
and piel cvccvc is less prone to reduction. 

I just dont believe that Hebrew grammatical forms are arbitrary, but rather 
evolved due to syntax.

Vadim Cherny