On Mon, 15 Jul 2013 02:24:37 -0600, yahoo-arch AT heplist.com wrote:
> Chris asks:
> > So how do the analysts know
> > that these four consonants were then later inserted
> > to be used as vowels?
>
> Since they are now used (quite prolifically) in Modern Hebrew to
> represent the location of certain vowels, it could be stated that
> certainly it was "later inserted to be used as vowels". Not trying to be
> an arse, just covering one end of the givens as part of explanation.
> On the other end (the more ancient end), Phoenician and other Semitic
> languages started out not using matres lectionis (essentially, not
> literally, consonants used to represent the place for vowels), including
> early Hebrew. But as the first millennium BCE progressed, they became
> more prolifically used. First, they were used for dipthongs (<aw>, <ay>
> etc)
Minor quibble: when used in diphthongs, they were essentially being used for
their consonantal value, rather than as matres lectionis. (But I
think monophthongization of diphthongs could contribute to the use of
waw and yodh as matres lectionis.)
> and for terminal (end of word) vowels, but transitioned to also
> being used for long vowels (and occasionally where a confusion of vowels
> was desired to not exist). There was no clear-cut divide between
> not-using and using, but a long, gradual transition at different paces
> among different regions and different Semitic languages (Hebrew used it
> more broadly and quicker than Phoenician, for example).