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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] CV syllables, was music in Hebrew

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] CV syllables, was music in Hebrew
  • Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:33:35 +0000

On 08/02/2006 02:08, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

... In this case, my argument is
that while internal mater lectionis are found in pre-exilic
documents, in the case of this particular noun form,
they are absent whereas in the Biblical spelling one or
both are usually present. That's a difference that needs
to be explained by someone who claims there's practically
no difference. It can't be answered simply because in
some other noun form or word there is a mater lectionis.
I never said there wasn't.

But it can be answered by pointing out that in all periods of Hebrew from early inscriptional right up to modern there is inconsistency in spelling, especially of long I and O vowels, between full spellings with matres lectionis and "defective" spellings with no letter (rather than point) marking the vowel. We know that in Masoretic and modern Hebrew the difference between full and defective spelling does not imply a pronunciation difference. This is highly probable also for a much earlier stage, as surely no one would argue that דויד DWYD in Chronicles was ever pronounced differently from דוד DWD in Samuel and Kings. Thus it is very uncertain and highly speculative to suggest that at any stage of Hebrew differences in the use of matres lectionis reflect real pronunciation change, rather than just a change in writing conventions.

I note that this consistent difference in some spellings between pre-exilic and post-exilic books is also evidence that the spelling of pre-exilic books was not consistently updated to post-exilic conventions. But it does seem to have been partly so updated.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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