Re: Hebrew, etc. [was: Multi-lingos

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On 22 Aug, Steg wrote:

>Since you sent it to the list and not just to Dan, i'll help out a bit in
>case he won't get his email for a while.
I do tend to read my email at irregular hours.
Thanks for the (very in-depth) assist, Steg.

<snip>

>I don't know first-hand of any subculture that pronounces vav as /w/ - a
>good proof that the shift from /w/ to /v/ is very ancient is (at least
>early CE) that in the Jerusalem Talmud there are 'mispellings' or
>'alternate spellings' of words that alternate between bet and vav; also,
>Syrians, who come from an Arabic (which has /w/) environment, pronounce
>vav /v/.  From what i can remember from the _Encyclopedia Judaica_
>article on "Pronounciations of Hebrew" (an amazing resource for this
>stuff!) the only groups that pronounce vav as /w/ (either always or
>allophonically) also use a /w/ (or a continuum of /w/ /B/ /b/) for
>instances of bet.
    Sounds like the old conservation of the old versus acceptance
of change in lang communities. Why some communities hang on
to old forms while others change is a fascinating study in itself.
(Wish I had the time to study it!)
I don't recall about "bet", but I have heard speakers of
Hebrew from Yemmenite origin, who are considered very
consevative in their lang use, pronounce /w/ for "vav".

<snip>

Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.