Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Ratson:

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 7:35 PM, Ratson Naharadama<yahoo-arch AT heplist.com> 
wrote:
> K. Randolph wrote:
>> The question comes down to,
>> were the ancient Hebrews the originators,
>> or the adopters,
>> of the 22 letter alphabet?
>
> It would seem to me, that since their phonetic inventory was wider than the 
> 22 letter alphabet could fully accommodate, it would seem that they were 
> the adopters of the alphabet.
>
> Ratson Naharädama
> Denver, Colorado

Your argument is one from theory and silence—theory that claims
greater number of phonemes, and silence that neither confirms nor
disproves theory. I question the theory, or more accurately I don’t
believe it, but recognize that the silence allows me neither to
condemn nor establish the theory. However, in the absence of the
theory, it is possible that the original Biblical Hebrew had but 22
consonantal phonemes.

Karl W. Randolph.