Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Garth Grenache <garthgrenache AT hotmail.com>]

Hi Paul,

I think we are in agreement :)  Whilst I have witnessed some insisting that 
there are as many syllables as consonants.

I'd like to suggest a modification in terminology, and then reveal why:

*Root* is use in Semitic linguistics refers just to three consonants and 
their meaning, without the vowels.
A root is not a word: it can be abstracted from a word.  Katab is a verb, and 
KTB is the root.

*stem* is a unit of a word to which a prefix or suffix can be added.

Using these terms,  'adamah may have been formed by addition of -ah to the 
stem 'adam.

On the other hand, some pairs words may actually have a different stem, but 
when written in consonants may seem to be identical except for a final 
additional consonant in one of the words.  Such a pair may have a structure 
like this:  CV-CVC, and CVC-CV  -both having two syllables.

It's quite possible that such examples exist where the final vowel of a new 
word was not appended to another word of one less syllable.

Garth.


> 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
--- 
Garth> 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