... In this case, my argument isBut it can be answered by pointing out that in all periods of Hebrew from early inscriptional right up to modern there is inconsistency in spelling, especially of long I and O vowels, between full spellings with matres lectionis and "defective" spellings with no letter (rather than point) marking the vowel. We know that in Masoretic and modern Hebrew the difference between full and defective spelling does not imply a pronunciation difference. This is highly probable also for a much earlier stage, as surely no one would argue that דויד DWYD in Chronicles was ever pronounced differently from דוד DWD in Samuel and Kings. Thus it is very uncertain and highly speculative to suggest that at any stage of Hebrew differences in the use of matres lectionis reflect real pronunciation change, rather than just a change in writing conventions.
that while internal mater lectionis are found in pre-exilic
documents, in the case of this particular noun form,
they are absent whereas in the Biblical spelling one or
both are usually present. That's a difference that needs
to be explained by someone who claims there's practically
no difference. It can't be answered simply because in
some other noun form or word there is a mater lectionis.
I never said there wasn't.
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