Re: Hebrew in all its Allophonic Majesty (was: IPA question)

On 21, June Pavel Iosad wrote:


<snip>

> [Steg:]
> > > > Standard Modern Israeli Hebrew:
> > > > pronounces /r/ as a velar approximant
>
> [Myself:]
> > > In one variety only (probably Ashkenaz, but I may be wrong here),
> > > the other has an alveolar trill or flap.
>
> [Steg:]
> > I was under the impression that that was considered the prescriptive
> > 'standard'.
>
> Well, broadly, there are two standards anyway.
>

    IME, the "standard" Israeli Hebrew that is supposed to be "correct"
has the alveolar trill/flap (it's a short trill). However, most people,
in common speech, use the velar approximant.
    Regarding pharyngeal sounds, 'ayin and Het, many Israelis, especially
those originating from Arabic-speaking countries, still pronounce them.
    In fact, when teaching kids how to produce a velar |r|, I usually start
from the unvoiced velar approximant and add voicing. I can usually get away
with  referring to the unvoiced approximant as |Het|,
since most of my clients don't pronounce pharyngeals
and thus don't differentiate between |Het| and
|chaf| (or |ayin| and |aleph|, for that matter). But, many of my clients
come from families which _do_ maintain those distinctions. With them,
I must be careful to refer to the velar approximant only as |chaf|, because
for them, |Het| is another sound altogether!


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

A word is an awesome thing.