Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

I've also wondered about the difference between ghayin and soft gimel, Jason. 
I suspect that, at the very least, the difference was in which part of the 
mouth/throat you constricted to pronounce them. Ghayin, being glottal, 
requires the constriction of the epiglottis, while gimel is pronounced more 
at the palate.

Alternatively, given the way some Arabic dialects pronounce /g/ like a French 
/j/ sound, perhaps a soft gimel was a /j/? I think it's harder to argue that 
case linguistically, but who knows?


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au