Re: Phonology Help (Aramaic and Pashto)

From: "Steg Belsky" <draqonfayir@...>

> I don't know about Modern Aramaic (=Syraic?), but supposedly common
> Semitic emphatics were originally glottalized.  Modern Arabic uses
> pharyngealization or velarization, instead.  According to the
> "Pronunciations of Hebrew" article in the Encyclopedia Judaica,
> Aramaic-speaking Jews pronounce Hebrew's emphatics as velarized, so i'd
> assume that's how Aramaic emphatics are pronounced too.
Well there are several dialects of Modern Aramaic, but I believe the
"emphatics" of common Semitic are realized as pharyngealized, as in Arabic
and (I think) Tiberian Hebrew. The main difference between East and West
Aramaic is the realization of long-a: /a/ in East, /o/ in West. Not much
different than the treatment of Hebrew long-a in Sephardic vs. Ashkenazic.

~Danny~

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