Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Paul Zellmer" <pzellmer AT sc.rr.com>]

Garth,

What you say about the comparison of number of syllables to consonants is
true.  There are not as many syllables as consonants.  Roots are generally
triliteral, and root words are generally two-syllabic.

Your recognition about mater lectionis (you could have also added the final
aleph to your list) were used to result in words that vocally end in CV is
also correct.  But CV is still a syllable, is it not?  Linguistically, in
general, the definition of syllable count is the number of *vowel* sounds,
especially if you count a diphthong as a single vowel sound.

The thread is not about words that just end in H.  Without getting into the
base question concerning synonymous meanings, it is a comparison between
roots and roots with an appended H.  How many syllables do you see in when H
is added to )DM, yielding )DMH?  I count two in the root and three in the
appended form, the last one being vocally open (although, in written form,
it would be considered closed).  In )WR-)WRH, would you not agree that we
have one syllable in the root and two in the appended form?  So, regardless
of whether you consider the addition to be a qamets (CV) which required a
mater lectionis to mark it in the unpointed text or a qamets-he (CVC) in
which the H closes the syllable, we are still adding a syllable to the word,
right?

Paul Zellmer

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Garth Grenache
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 5:46 AM
To: b-hebrew
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] What does H add?


Hang on a minute friends:

There are not as many syllables in Hebrew as they are consonants.
Rather, a syllable can either be typically open CV (1 consonant, 1 vowel) or
closed CVC (2 consonants, one vowel, one syllable).
Also, final H, final W and final Y were added to many words, from about the
10th century BCE, to mark a vowel after the final consonant.  So, for
example, SRH represents Sar-ra, but SR represents Sarr.

A final H often a final vowel, not a h, and not an additional syllable, but
rather that the last syllable is open CV, where the V is marked by H:  CH
                                          
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