Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Why Semitic languages had no written vowels?
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 10:45:32 +0300
> I don't think you agree with anyone else on this or on any of the rest of
your entirely speculative reconstruction of ancient Semitic.
Not entirely speculative. You ignore that:
- all vowels seem to derive from kamatz through syntactical accent
elongation and stress-shift shortening
- if at any time the language was so primitive as to include only davar
nouns (highly likely assumption), then then existed a single vowel, kamatz
- diversification of morphological forms explains later diversification of
vowels
> >I just don't know, but I assume there must be other alphabets in the
world
> >besides Semitic.
> >
> I don't think there are any which have arisen independently, not derived
> at least partly from Semitic.
If concepts of script and, specifically, of alphabet are so unique, should
we imagine the ancients were so stupid as to omit morphologically
indispensable vowels?