Biblical Hebrew Forum

[AMK Judaica <amkjudaica AT hotmail.com>]

Isaac,
 
Even if one can't distinguish between kaf and het (and some can and do), KRM vs. XRM is still distinct owing to vocalization of the first letter (segol vs. tzere).
 
kol tuv,
ari

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From: if AT math.bu.edu
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 14:17:30 -0500
To: uhurwitz AT yahoo.com
CC: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] hatef vowels

1. Ok, I will shout it louder (for extra effect I would go also up the roof of my house, but it is buried now in snow, and I can not wait)

THE THINKING THAT A DIFFERENT GRAPHICAL NIQUD MARKING IS DESIGNED TO REPRESENT A DIFFERENT VOCALIZATION IS GROUNDLESS;

in plain English it is baloney, concocted ex-nihilo by some latter-day Hebrew "grammarians".   

2. This science of the Hebrew "grammar" that "teaches" of "long" and "short" vowels is obsolete. I have just read an article in an Israeli newspaper by someone calling for the outright abolition from the school of this frightfully kooky and annoying subject called לשון LA$ON. 

4. Consider now this meshugas of the Hebrew "Academy" imposed by decree on the announcers of the Israeli TV. So goes their talmudic pilpul (aka Hebrew grammar): An initial schwa is a schwa "mobile". A BKP letter following such a schwa must remain dageshless, and is therefore read (why is not revealed to us) softly. Since no living Hebrew announcer is capable of distinguishing between a soft kaf and a xet, the place name כרם שלום KEREM $ALOM ("the vineyard of peace", at a Gaza crossing) become in their articulated mouth בחרם שלום B-XEREM $ALOM, ("in the boycott of peace").  

Isaac Fried, Boston University