Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>]

I'm sorry for trying to help you. I saw no problem with trying to treat 
your question in a linguistically accurate and appropriate manner. I'm 
sorry to see that you don't accept such ideals. I guess if you want your 
questions answered in exactly the way you want, then answer them in a 
fashion you accept with the answers you expect.

Regards,
David Kummerow.


> David Kummerow wrote:
> > Hi John,
> >
> > Well, you pick an example where the "base" parts are the same. 
> > Dividing between a "base" morpheme and a "prefix" morpheme to answer 
> > you question is entirely arbitrary, linguistically speaking. In any 
> > case, [ha$omer] differs from [ha$$omer] with respect to the dagesh. 
> > The prefixed morphemes are /ha/ and /haC/ (more correctly /ha?/, where 
> > ? stands for mora). Again I assert that in this morpheme, removal of 
> > the dagesh changes the morpheme, and hence its semantics, entirely. 
> > The principle, therefore, that in BH the dagesh is phonemic -- and 
> > hence meaningful -- is established. Whether a linguistic side effect 
> > of this is that some verbal or nominal morphology solely differs with 
> > respect to this morpheme is entirely secondary -- meaning that the 
> > answer to your question regarding "bases", whether affirmative or 
> > negative, does not really matter with respect to the phonemic status 
> > of dagesh. By removing dagesh from /haC/, you remove the 
> > distinguishing phoneme from the morpheme, hence there is significant 
> > meaning loss in doing so.
> >   
> The base parts are not the same graphically - as one has a dagesh, the 
> other doesn't.
> My diving the word is not arbitrary! The morpheme breaks I gave are not 
> of my invention!
> My question is about the "base" - weather you approve of it or not. So 
> please don't tell me what questions to ask.
>
> So my question is what it is: Does the addition of a dagesh(es) into the 
> "base" of the word change the meaning the of "base" of the word?