Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Steinberg <david.l.steinberg AT rogers.com>]

Dr Sapir -
Thanks for your response.

Re stress in Canaanite languages. I agree that our only strong evidence 
is from Hebrew. However, the situation in spoken Arabic seems to me to 
be that short vowels often disappear when unstressed and long vowels 
often, and in Egyptian always, shorten when unstressed while stressed 
short vowels do not generally lengthen. In Aramaic, it would seem that 
short stressed short vowels do not generally lengthen. These patterns 
contrast with  biblical Hebrew, as reflected in the Tiberian tradition 
where  all stressed vowels are long.

I agree that short unstressed vowels seem to have remained in pre-exilic 
Hebrew see - http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_tequ.htm#fin_st_vowls

I would welcome your comments on any of the points that I discuss under 
the heading Tequ - http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_tequ.htm



David Steinberg

http://www.houseofdavid.ca/