From: David Steinberg <david.l.steinberg AT rogers.com>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Cc: b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Vocalization and reading of Biblical Hebrew
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:19:17 -0500
Karl
Your statement below is both partially correct and misleading -
"We don't know what was the original pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew.
All we have are the consonants, and we don't even agree on the
pronunciation of those. There are some of us who believe that the modern
pronunciation (Israeli or Yemini) was how the ancients pronounced Hebrew
before the Babylonian Exile, others dispute that belief. Therefore, the
safest way to deal with that in these discussions is merely to write the
Hebrew consonants as they are found in Tanakh, and/or to write them out
in transliteration. That way there is no argument as to pronunciation
(useful to avoid that argument when other questions are the main
subjects of a posting). When I read Tanakh, I read it without points
(the text I have in my computer has no points) so when I read the text
and quote it in my messages here, it will be without pronunciation. "