On Mon, 15 Jul 2013 02:24:37 -0600, [email protected] wrote: > Chris asks: > > So how do the analysts know > > that these four consonants were then later inserted > > to be used as vowels? > > Since they are now used (quite prolifically) in Modern Hebrew to > represent the location of certain vowels, it could be stated that > certainly it was "later inserted to be used as vowels". Not trying to be > an arse, just covering one end of the givens as part of explanation. > On the other end (the more ancient end), Phoenician and other Semitic > languages started out not using matres lectionis (essentially, not > literally, consonants used to represent the place for vowels), including > early Hebrew. But as the first millennium BCE progressed, they became > more prolifically used. First, they were used for dipthongs (<aw>, <ay> > etc)
Minor quibble: when used in diphthongs, they were essentially being used for their consonantal value, rather than as matres lectionis. (But I think monophthongization of diphthongs could contribute to the use of waw and yodh as matres lectionis.) > and for terminal (end of word) vowels, but transitioned to also > being used for long vowels (and occasionally where a confusion of vowels > was desired to not exist). There was no clear-cut divide between > not-using and using, but a long, gradual transition at different paces > among different regions and different Semitic languages (Hebrew used it > more broadly and quicker than Phoenician, for example). -- William Parsons _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
