Re: The status of the glottal stop in Hebrew

At 16:31 7/7/2004, Dan Sulani wrote:
>     I remember a discussion we once had on this list about
>how the type of lang used at a previous stage of development
>can take on poetic, ceremonial, or even mystic overtones ---
>the farther removed from current speech patterns, the better!
>Well, in this regard, Hebrew is no different.
Avestan comes to mind.  The Magi were so paranoid about the
correct pronunciation that they developed the first *phonetic*
writing system.  Quite understandable, since mispronunciation
would cause the sacrifice to be snatched by the demons.

In India the situation was similar, but there they used a
*phonemic* script and developed a quite voluminous orthoepic
literature with an astute phonetic analysis.

Both situations are of course interesting to an historical
phonologist...


/BP 8^)
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@melroch.se (delete X)

         Solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant!
                                             (Tacitus)