Dear all,
As some of you might remember from the previous discussions on this
list, I advocate the theory that dagesh (both kal and hazak) is a stop.
Specifically, dagesh hazak is a post-tonic geminative stop, and dagesh
kal is interconsonantal stop meant to force syllabification. Both
dageshes are designed to prevent jamming: hazak prevents jamming of the
post-tonic vowel (mitlAb'sh - mitlA.bbesh) and kal prevents jamming of
first consonant in the cluster (ni-zcar - ni-'car, but niz.car).
With that in mind, I'd venture an explanation for shin-sin difference
which I haven't seen before. Dot in shin-sin functions like soft-hard
signs in Russian. A {she} syllable, for example, would be pronounced
with the soft sign like sh[ee]. The point is, shin and sin is the same
letter, the difference being purely environmental.
Sameh, then, is [s] while sin is softened [sh]. It is possible that in
some words with harsh meaning sameh evolved into sin due to hard
pronunciation (e.g., savah with sameh - svah, bars, with sin).
I'd like to welcome your opinions.
Vadim Cherny
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