Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

   Randall Buth has written, inter alia:
 
"... inside a language
family where older, genetically-tight sister languags
 have established three-vowel systems."

  Yes, of course the three vowel system is known
 from the earliest Akkadian evidence. It is however
 interesting to ask whether these early Semites had
 indeed only three vowels, or simply chose to compress
 their vowel markings to the three.

  The Masoretes, much later, had two additional ones:
  Segol and  Tseireh, not to mention the differences
 bweteen Hatafim and regular vowels. 

  And, interestingly, while classical Arabic has only
 the three traditional vowels familiar from the Akkadian,
 the spoken Arabic has a clear Segol/Tseireh vowel: Khirbeh,
 sheikh and so on.

  Hehagav,

  Uri Hurwitz                           Great Neck, NY