Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Tyler Williams" <lists AT biblical-studies.ca>]

>So, what is the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the letter ק qof or qoph? And 
>what is Kittel's rendering? Do Ashkenazis distinguish the sounds of the 
>letters כ kaf and ק qof?

Hi Peter, Kittel has כ as khof and ק as qof. From what I can determine
Modern Israeli, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi all pronounce כ as /k/ (plosive) or
/x/ (fricative/spirant), while ק is pronounced in all three as /k/.

What I think may be going on in Kittel upon further reflection is a
inconsistent use of Ashkenazi for some pronunciations (perhaps due to
influence from liturgical usage?). In the aleph-bet song on the CD that you
can purchase with the Textbook, the ק is pronounced as "quf" which is also
the Ashkenazi pronunciation (although the text lists the letter as "qof").  

-Tyler Wiliams