Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Read, James C" <K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk>]

Peter wrote:
I think this is because of your limitations as an English speaker, 
because in English the sound [h] is never used at the end of a syllable. 
However, for speakers of some other languages e.g. Arabic which use 
syllable final [h], and for those trained in phonetics like myself, this 
syllable final [h] is not a problem at all. And it doesn't seem to have 
been a problem for Hebrew speakers at one time - but it may have become 
one later, for there is a tendency in later editions of the Hebrew Bible 
to replace silent sheva under he and under other "guttural" consonants 
with a non-silent "composite sheva". But this is certainly not an 
argument that there was originally a vowel in the middle of the divine name.
END QUOTE

JCR: This also seems to be a limitation of my ears as well. Because every 
time 
I listen to a demonstration of someone who claims to be able to do it I 
always 
hear the 'he' as the start of the new syllable.

I wasn't suggesting that this was proof for an orignal middle syllable in 
Yah's 
name because I don't hold these points to be the originals anyway. It's just 
that 
for a long time i have never understood why every other vowel sign the 
masoretes 
used would have been consistent, while the sheva is (reportedly) used both 
vocally and silently. 
The silent scheva seems to be completely redundant as it would simply have 
sufficed 
to have left no sign at the end of a syllable. Would anyone have any 
difficulty in 
understanding that there is no vowel after the 'he' in )ehyeh? Without the 
superfluos 
'silent' scheva of ')eh:yeh'?

And let's suppose that the masoretes did have valid reasons for assuming that 
indicating the end of a syllable was nessecary. Why would they use the same 
symbol 
as that used for a vocal schewa if their intention was to indicate the 
opposite?
Wasn't their aim to make a consistent system? Rather than add to the 
confusion?

While I can accept that my ears and vocal cords may be limited (as a native 
English speaker)
I have significant problems overcoming these last hurdles which only seem 
self-contradictory.

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