Cc: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: lre: etter names
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 06:51:44 -0500
shalom Mathias
>
>Although the Israelis of European origin do not distinguish
>khaf from het, Hebrew speakers of biblical times certainly did.
And many today.
>Is it a widespread use in the academic community to call "khet"
>the letter whose name was pronounced something like [He:t] with
>"pharyngal h", or is there an alternative widespread name like
>"hhet" or "h.et" or anything else ? It is a precision which can
>have a strong teaching impact, isn't it ? <
Many people still correctly pronounce the Het as a pharyngeal fricative
here in Israel and abroad, especially when reading scripture.
(Our teachers and recorded materials for the courses at
www.biblicalulpan.org all distinguish Het from xaf in pronunciation.)