From: "JAMES CHRISTIAN READ" <JCR128 AT student.anglia.ac.uk>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Was Schewa really silent?
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:00:20 +0100
Hi all,
recent discussions have reminded me of a point which I
have never really fully resolved in my mind. The whole
point of the Massoretic pointing system was to preserve
the pronunciation by introducing *non ambiguous*
representation of vowels.
Why would the massoretes betray this goal by giving
the point which represents Schewa a dual role? And so,
I guess what I'm really asking is, is there any real
evidence that Schewa was used by the Massoretes to
close a syllable rather than to represent a vowel?