Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Peter:

I agree with you that the furtive patah is evidence for the 
original pronunciation, but I suspect that what happened 
was that the pharyngeal consonants were the last to lose 
their following vowels. So, for example, rucha became 
ruach, shome'a became shomea', and so forth.

Karl W. Randolph.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Kirk" <peter AT qaya.org>
> ...
> Possibly, but it is more probable that the furtive patah was inserted at
> a time when `ayin and het were pronounced as proper pharyngeals. For it
> is well known that pronunciation of a pharyngeal consonant, by
> withdrawing the tongue root, lowers the centre of the tongue and so
> changes a close vowel (i,e,u) into an open one, more of an a sound. At a
> later stage some speakers dropped the `ayin and started to pronounce the
> het differently. But the furtuve patah is evidence of the original
> pronunciation.
> 
>> --
> Peter Kirk
> peter AT qaya.org (personal)
> peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
> http://www.qaya.org/

-- 
___________________________________________________
Play 100s of games for FREE! http://games.mail.com/