On Mon, 15 Jul 2013 07:47:48 -0400, "Barry H." <[email protected]> wrote: > ... > And, of course, the The Masoretic context could be quite different. > Wasn't a deliberate effort made to preserve proper pronunciation? When > did that start? But even today, Sephardic and Ashkenazi often sound > quite different.
Indeed. I don't know whether the Sephardic/Ashkenazic division has its origins in a time prior the Masoretic work or not, but the fact that these form two substantial dialect divisions not only is illustrative of the fact that internal changes to the vocalization still took place, but also is illustrative of the fact that phonology gets readjusted to more closely conform to the foreign milieu. (With respect to the latter, I'm thinking of the elimination of distinct emphatic articulations for consonants and the replacement of [θ] with Seph. [t] vs. Ashk. [s].) -- ὣς ἔφατο Will Parsons _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
