To: kwrandolph AT email.com, b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Cc:
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Proto-Semitic, was WAYYIQTOL
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 00:52:51 EST
In a message dated 3/13/2004 11:33:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
kwrandolph AT email.com writes:
What I question about proto-Semitic, as it
was taught me, is that practically every
phoneme found in modern Semitic languages
are posited as having been present in
proto-Semitic. That ignores that languages
not only lose phonemes, but gain them as
well. It is possible that Hebrew, with 22
consonantal phonemes, was the original
proto-Semitic that survived the event at
Babel in the third millennium. I find that
proposition philosophically attractive, but
in the absence of clear cut documentation
for or against, I hesitate to push it. It
is the same lack of documentation for the
hypothetical proto-Semitic that makes me
question its validity as a measure of how
Biblical Hebrew was originally pronounced.
______
Why should you assume that Hebrew was the original language? (I believe this
is what you are implying here. Correct me if I misunderstand. Indeed, I
tend
to think of Babel as a myth to explain the existence of a multitude of
languages despite a previously stated origin of the human species from a
single
ancestor. This forum is really not the proper place to discuss this matter,
but
since you raised the issue I feel obliged to clarify the point. You may, and
perhaps should, answer offlist.