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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Dagesh - a different sound or aspiration?

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  • From: Vadim Cherny <him AT vadimcherny.org>
  • To: Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Dagesh - a different sound or aspiration?
  • Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:09:46 +0300

That's the whole question. [b/v] are not allophones while [b/bh] might be.
If dagesh mens [b/v] difference, then Hebrew seems the only language which originally marked two different phonemes with one letter (in other languages the differentiation is of later origin).
Clearly, the Masoretes couldn't hear begedkefet as [b/bh] allophones, as we can see from un-dagesh consonants followed by a vowel, like yeshobhebh would be unpronounceable.
But neither did the authors of LXX and Hexapla hear [b/v] differentiation.

Vadim Cherny

Petr Tomasek wrote:
What is clear, is that letters of bega"d kefa"t with and without dagesh
do not present two different phonemes but rather are alophones
(in masoretic biblical hebrew). The reason why they are at all marked
is likely due to the fact, that hebrew was not the mother tongue of the
masoretes, in which a phonemic distinction existed between b/v (or whatever
fonetic value they had).

BTW, I'd recommend reading the following article:

Richard L. Goerwitz. "Is Tiberian Səgôl a Phoneme?" in: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of the International Organization for Masoretic Studies. E. J. Revell (ed.). Cambrigde University: Scholars Press 1995. pp. 155-170.

P.T.







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