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  • From: David Steinberg <david.l.steinberg AT rogers.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Cc: b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Vocalization and reading of Biblical Hebrew
  • Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:19:17 -0500

Karl
Your statement below is both partially correct and misleading -

"We don't know what was the original pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew. All we have are the consonants, and we don't even agree on the pronunciation of those. There are some of us who believe that the modern pronunciation (Israeli or Yemini) was how the ancients pronounced Hebrew before the Babylonian Exile, others dispute that belief. Therefore, the safest way to deal with that in these discussions is merely to write the Hebrew consonants as they are found in Tanakh, and/or to write them out in transliteration. That way there is no argument as to pronunciation (useful to avoid that argument when other questions are the main subjects of a posting). When I read Tanakh, I read it without points (the text I have in my computer has no points) so when I read the text and quote it in my messages here, it will be without pronunciation. "



We cannot recreate the pronunciations (1000 - 350 BCE and many dialects and
registers(seehttp://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_diglossia.htm ) of Biblical
Hebrew with certainty however:

a) we can reconstruct the Tiberian pronunciation with some confidence ( http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2a.htm#vowel_systemTH nb. footnotes);
b) we know that in Hebrew until the Middle Ages, vowel ( see http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2.htm#dvcl http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2a.htm#minprs )and consonant length was phonemic unlike modern pronunciations ( see http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2a.htm#MLbib )so that the whole phonemic structure was unlike Israeli Hebrew ( see http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_12.htm#alter; http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2.htm#vcl ).
c) we do have a clear view of the range of the likely pronunciations of the BH consonants ( see http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2.htm#con_phoneme )and can make reasoned hypotheses regarding the BH vowel system (see http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2a.htm )

No one can read or pronounce or even understand the text ( see http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_5.htm#orth )without assuming a vocalization.

David Steinberg

Ottawa, Canada





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