Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 2:39 PM, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 1:18 PM, Michiel Borkent wrote:
>> I wondered what the explanation for the pronunciation of waw-consecutive of
>> hyh, being wayehi (vocal swa) in for example Genesis 1:5 is.
>> The yod is not doubled here and the swa is vocal. Normally I would expect a
>> doubling of the yod and then the vocal swa would make sense to me, but now
>> it doesn't.
>>
>> I tried to find it in my grammar book and it said that with waw-consecutive
>> with yod, tav and nunyou have 'secondary doubling' that possibly later is
>> cancelled. Is that the case here and how?
>
> The schewa is silent in the Tiberian system.

Compare also the pausal form in Ps 33:9, with an open vowel at the yodh,
and a dagesh.

Yitzhak Sapir