Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Raoul,

Hebrew speakers do [and possibly did] indeed routinely turn, at their  
convenience, some Schwas into an E or an A, but this has nothing to  
do with the imagined existence of a systematic Schwa "NA(" [except as  
an abstract grammatical device in terms of which to formulate the BGD  
KPT rules]. Whenever I feel really compelled to to "move" a Schwa I  
insert instead a tiny gap. Hebrew sounds to me very good [and right]  
this way.
I have just listened to a well known Israeli actor-singer read  
selected psalms. Not that he is an expert on Hebrew, but he follows  
the accepted [actually undisciplined] prevailing conventions on  
pronunciation. Here is how he reads chapter 23. Contrary to my habit  
I am writing here below all Hebrew words in lower case letters but  
with his insertions enlarged.
...lEdavid...mEnuxot...yE$obeb...bEmaAglei...lEmaan... 
$ibtEka...corEray...rEvayah...YirdEpuniy...yEmei...bEbeit...lEoerk...
The first thing to notice is that he turns all the prepositioned  
Schwaic B-, K-, L-, M- into a BE-, KE-, LE-, ME-. This is fine with  
me. Hebrew speakers do this routinely with non radical extensions,  
thinking of them as independent words.
Some words such as TKULAH, 'content', are pronounced now with an  
"unmoved" T [even though it is supposedly a Schwa "NA"], probably  
because the common Hebrew speaker intuitively considers the initial T  
an integral part of the word, rather than an attached condensed  
personal pronoun AT for the thing itself. Yet he clearly pronounces  
HI) TE-SALEQ, 'she will expel'.
The second thing to notice is the added E after L, M, N, R, Y, as in R 
[E]VAYA, which I would read RVAYA, and Y[E]MEI, which I would read  
YMEI. I would also read BE-MA[ ]GLEI, not BE-MA[A]GLEI, $IBT[ ]KA,  
not $IBT[E]KA, COR[ ]RAY, not COR[E]RAY and YIRD[ ]PUNIY, not YIRD[E] 
PUNIY.
It is worthwhile trying.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Sep 7, 2007, at 1:42 AM, Dr Raoul Comninos wrote:

> I am having difficulty accepting this theory of shewa. How do you
> account for the fact that ancient Greek and Latin transliterations of
> Hebrew names often render the shewa as a full vowel?
>
> On 8/31/07, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> > Raoul,
> >
> > 1. I know that a second Schwa coming before a "guttural" is  
> > difficult to
> > pronounce without an added E, for example, YI$[ ]L[ ]XU, 'they  
> > will send' or
> > YI$[ ]M[ ](U, 'they will hear', which are routinely pronounced  
> > [even by me]
> > YI$[ ]L[E]XU and YI$[ ]M[E](U, but this has nothing to do with the  
> > issue of
> > the "Schwa NA" and "Schwa NAX" but rather with the articulation of  
> > the
> > following  letters. Yet YIR[ ]K[ ]BU, 'they will ride', is very  
> > fine, in my
> > opinion. Send me please another example of a Hebrew word with a  
> > Schwa that
> > must be "moved".
> > 2. The, misguided, concept of "Schwa NA" is a license to turn  
> > Hebrew into an
> > EEE language. See how crisp, measured and beautiful is V[ ]RIN[ ] 
> > NU of
> > Jeremiah 13:11, as compared to the slushy V[E]RIN[E]NU, which is  
> > with four
> > vowels [Hebrew speakers have no use for "half" vowels].
> > 3. Hebrew speakers tend nowadays to deconstruct the prepositioned  
> > Schwaic V,
> > B, K, L, M, intuitively recognizing that they are but the  
> > curtailed words
> > VEH, BEH, KEH, LEH, MEH. And I like it. Thus, they clearly  
> > pronounce B[
> > ]TOK, 'inside', as BE-TOK. Yet they pronounce B[ ]KOR, 'first- 
> > born', in
> > which the opening B is radical, as BKOR, without even a hint of  
> > "movement".
> > No my book does not deal with this issue as it is irrelevant to  
> > its main
> > theme.
> > E-mail me, please, the paper by William Chomsky: "THE  
> > PRONUNCIATION OF THE
> > SHEWA", even though I have no use also for "long vowels" and  
> > "short vowels".
> > I am glad you are willing to review my book for amazon.com. I will  
> > send you
> > a gift copy but meanwhile you can find its entire content in
> > www.hebrewetymology.com.
> >
> > Isaac Fried, Boston University
> >
> > On Aug 31, 2007, at 12:20 PM, Dr Raoul Comninos wrote:
> >
> > Am I understanding your correctly that you are arguing shewa is never
> > vocal? I would love to hear you read a text of the Hebrew Bible to  
> > see
> > what you do with shewa, to see what you do with shewa in practice. Is
> > it too much to ask that you record a few lines in a wmv file and  
> > email
> > them to me? Do you deal with any of these issues in your book?
> >
> > On 8/31/07, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> > James,
> >
> > The whole business of Schwa NA and Schwa NAX is in my opinion
> > baloney. It is a historical misunderstanding and is one of the many
> > ghosts cozily and imperturbably inhabiting the dim corners of Hebrew
> > grammar. It got now to the point of becoming a religious question of
> > how to properly recite the prayers, with some Hebrew prayer books
> > marking what they think needs to be "moved".
> > There is only one Schwa and it is but an indication to put a tiny
> > hiatus or pause after the marked consonant. Since this requires
> > phonetic discipline some find it easier to sloppily insert a thin,
> > and ugly, E into this gap, phonetically disfiguring thereby the
> > Hebrew language.
> > Thus: XAL[ ]LEI not XAL[E]LEI, CIL[ ]LEI not CIL[E]LEI, UMAD[ ]DU,
> > not UMAD[E]DU, Y[ ]$AD[ ]DEM, not Y[E]$AD[E]DEM, AP[ ]PU, not AP[E] 
> > PU.
> > There is a natural tendency to place such a redundant (repugnant) E
> > after an initial schwaic L, M, N, R, Y. To wit: L[E]BENAH, 'brick', L
> > [E]BIBAH, 'cake', N[E]BIAH, 'prophetess', R[E]BABAH, 'ten thosand', Y
> > [E]SOD, 'foundation', Y[E]LADYIM, 'children', in place of L[ ] 
> > BENAH, L
> > [ ]BIBAH, N[ ]BIAH, R[ ]BABAH, Y[ ]SOD, Y[ ]LADYIM. Also if the
> > second letter is Alef, He or Ayin as in the mispronounced G[E]) 
> > ULAH, $
> > [E](ARYIM, T[E])O, M[E](ARAH, S[E](ARAH, B[E]HEMAH, D[E]HYIRAH (from
> > the root DHR, 'gallop, canter'). But $)AL, 'ask', SAD(, 'eat', $)AB
> > 'draw water', appear to be easily pronounceable as $[ ])AL, S[ ](AD
> > and $[ ])AB.
> > Cleavage of a consonant cluster may also be a myth. Even (new) words
> > such as BAR[ ]RAN, 'fastidious, choosy', from the root BRR, or XA$[ ]
> > $AN, 'apprehensive', from the root X$$, should not be pronounced BAR
> > [E]RAN, and XA$[E]$AN.
> > As far as I can recall, no Hebrew noun starts with a schwaic Alef,
> > He, Xet or Ayin , but an initial schwaic Resh is common, for
> > instance, R[ ]BABAH. There are few Hebrew nouns containing a schwaic
> > Alef such as B)[ ]$AH, 'cockle' of Job 31:40. In Isaiah 42:21 we find
> > the verbal V[ ]YA)[ ]DYIR. A schwaic He is also rare.
> > The 1 Kings 6:8 UB[ ]LULYIM, 'with winding stairs' is commonly
> > pronounced U-BE-LULIM. But Leviticus 2:5 B[ ]LULAH, 'mingled' is
> > pronounce BLULAH to indicate that this B is radical. Also M[ ]MALE)
> > is being voiced nowadays as ME-MALE( in recognition of the
> > prepositioned M being short for MI, 'he, who'.
> >
> > Isaac Fried, Boston University[cut]
> >
> > --
> > Dr Raoul Comninos
> > 93 Wagenaar Street
> > Monte Vista
> > 7460
> > South Africa
> > capechurch AT gmail.com
> > Fax: (086) 6544615