Re: help with hebrew/aramaic

On Sun, 28 Apr 2002 00:51:32 -0500 Danny Wier <dawier@...>
writes:
> From: "Steg Belsky" <draqonfayir@...>
> > and pronounced something like [josef].
> > the two /o/'s might be long, i'm not sure and i'm not sure if it
> matters.
> > both names are stressed on the last syllable.
> The one in Yosef definitely is (thus /jo:se:f/); since it's in an
> open
> syllable -- is that right?
> ~Danny~
-

I don't know... see, the problem is that i don't know if there was ever
any difference in pronounciation between the vowels |hholam-hhaseir| and
|hholam-malei|.  If there was, then i assume the "/o/ series" of Hebrew
vowels was:

[O<ultrashort>] ~ hhataf-qamatz
[O] ~ qamatz-qatan
[o] ~ hholam-hhaseir
[o:] ~ hholam-malei

I think that was probably how it was, but if the distinction was only
graphic, then i have no idea if the |hholam| would have been pronounced
[o] or [o:].  After all, the "/e/" series only has three members,
[E<ultrshrt>] (hhataf-segol), [E] (segol), and [e] (tzeireh)- and i don't
know whether the |tzeireh| would have been pronounced [e] or [e:].
Although i remember someone here saying that the first [E] in 'segolate'
words like |kelev| was probably long, hence [kE:lEv] even though the
distinction isn't marked in the orthography.

So, personally if i had to choose i would go with [o:] for the
|hholam-malei| in both Yosef and Shim`on.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "¿arú?"