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  • From: Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] final alef
  • Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:29:52 +0200

On Fri, Aug 17, 2007 at 10:48:07AM -0700, Uri Hurwitz wrote:
> Well, it depends how far back one wishes to go in time when the
> consonantal spelling started. The assumption that those who put down an
> Aleph indicated something they heard is defintely tenable.
>
> Let's take as an example the Heb. 'he' or 'she', "Hu)" "Hy)", in both
> cases the Alephs are silent. Now, the Arabic for these is"hua" and "hiya"
> , in both cases there is a final wovel; vestiges of this ancient
> pronounciation is represented in the biblical Alephs.
>
> It may be interesting to note that in modern Heb. speech the Aleph in
> the negation "LO"
> is of course silent. However when this is used emphatically as "No!" the
> Aleph often becomes a gluttal stop, and can be heard as such, though native
> speakers are hardly aware of it. How about this, Yigal?

But isn't this possibly an influence of arabic? The written arabic
has regularly forms like "badaʾtu", or even hamza at the end of a word...

BTW, one will find more such irregularities in the modern hebrew,
e.g. a geminated "f" (and not "p") in יפה ("jaffē").

> Uri Hurwitz At present
> Wilmington, VT

--
Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
Jabber: butrus AT jabbim.cz
SIP: butrus AT ekiga.net (725514 AT ekiga.net)




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