Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

*wa-yaktub JamesC
> For the benefit of the layman who may read this and think Randall actually
> knows what he's talking about I would present this question to Randall so
> that the layman can see how and if he can even answer it:
>
> Akkadian being a dead language on what transliteration evidence are you
> basing your 'knowledge' of Akkadian pronunciation?

I don't really see the above as a good faith question, nor knowledge based,
 but personal. The moderators may have a word to add.

In addition, it confuses several issues.
First, it distracts from a discussion of phonemes and confuses "pronunciation"
for a phonemic inventory. Secondly, it distracts from the Western Semitic
orientation of my answer.

If you are interested in the thread, go back and read it.
The thread initiator assumed three Akkadian vowels--which is the accepted
inventory for Akkadian, plus 'e' with/from pharygeals (and perhaps an
'o' to balance
the 'e', but not attested in writing to my knowledge. [The hundreds of
sign-value
combinations throughout Akkadian dialects truly requires a 'scorecard'. See
Rene Labat.])

For the history of the decipherment of Akkadian, I suggest reading up
on Rawlinson
and the Behistun Inscription, who was working from Old Persian to Babylonian
(an Akkadian dialect). You can follow up with Akkadian studies thru the 20th
century.

Finally, pronunciation is not the issue but the phonemic system. It is
impossible
to know the "color" of ancient vowels without a recording, but a minimum 
number
of phonemes can be determined. The spices in the pie are irrelevant, it is the
number of pieces that we are discussing (i.e., the abstract-units that
were used
by speakers to differentiate meaning). Just like the three phonemic vowels of
ProtoBHebrew, Canaanite, and Ugaritic. As mentioned, these did develop into
a five phonemic-vowel system in Hebrew,
which was apparently the system in place before the later Masoretic system.

And again, reference to Jouon-Muraoka and Bauer-Leander is recommended.

blessings
Randall


-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth AT gmail.com
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