Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

It seems that people here are of the habit of referring to verb forms
as WAYYIQTOL or WEYIQTOL or WEQATAL in order to point out
some differences in spelling or Massoretic pronunciation.

However, the above do not represent Massoretic pronunciation of the
Qal.  For example, in Deut 32:1 we have [vati$-'ma(] whereas in
2 Sam 11:26 we have [vat-ti$-'ma(].  The only difference between
these two is syllable structure and gemination of the taw.  This is
obfuscated by the use of "WEYIQTOL" which assumes an "e"
sound for the schewa (which is known to be wrong) and uses a
"YI" verbal prefix which would cause the schewa to be realized as
an [i] by a secondary unrelated development.

If the aim is to discuss the forms present in the Massoretic
text, the first step should be to properly represent that text.

Yitzhak Sapir