Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Hamuel <davidhamuel AT sbcglobal.net>]

@Yitzhak: 

> the Masoretes noted that the ga(ya is pronounced consistently *whether it 
> is written or not". Quoting from Geoffrey Khan's...
"The reader pronounces the ga(ya whether it is written or not written" - 
Sefer Ta'ame haMiqra
"in some books, the ga(ya is written whereas in others it is not written but 
rather the knowledge of the reader is relied upon." - Mahberet haTijan.

These quotes — in their original text: Hidayat al-Kari and its extended 
family e.g. Tijan etc. etc. — have  a very specific context, and when taken 
out of it could lead to wrong assumptions.

Kahn, page 59: 'The reader pronounces the ga'ya whether it is written or not 
written' (Seper Ta'ame ha-Miqra, p. Eiii, with reference to a ga'ya on a word 
with zarqa."
For some reason you didn't post the part about the zarka. 

As far as the second quote: the discussion (original text) is about the  
clear distinction between gayat hova (must) and gayat reshut (not a must).

 > If we look at the word w$m( "and hear!", we find something interesting. 

verse? chapter? book? 

> They are not pronounced one way or another based on whether the Masorete or 
> vocalizer chose to put a meteg or not, or to denote a schewa with hatef or 
> not, which Masoretes did inconsistently.

One important aspect of the sample from Lev. and other words is the use of 
hataf sheva which was meant to help the reader with some pronunciation 
problems.  The "inconsistently" of this hataf sheva was due to the fact that 
Masora stated very clearly that was up to the scribes to use it or not;  see 
Dikdukei haTeamim (Dotan edition, part b, section 19, page 252). 
BTW, what is a better way to see this inconsistency vs. consistency that came 
under the same hand of Shemuel ben Ya'aqov: the MSS L & Lm. 

 > This suggests that the pausal form of the word was with meteg, the 
 > non-pausal without.  Here there is a consistent difference.  Now, the Lev. 
 > example was not on a pausal accent,

Before diving in to the pausal form world, I'm not sure that I understand 
what  exactly are the rules and the exceptions:  pausal form -- there's a 
gaya; non-pausal form -- no gaya; and why is the sample from Lev. an 
exception to the rules? 

BTW,  we are informed by the work of Ibn Janach that the word  korban 
(sacrifice), for example,  was pronounced in 3 different ways. 

> because I have quite a few articles on hand that point out on the basis of 
> Diqduqe Hateamim, the schewa must be quiescent in such cases.

I'm all ears. 


Best,

David Hamuel