5 ms·

I've just started learning biblical Hebrew, and I must say I find it a fascinating language - especially its alphabet (or aleph-bet, rather). I'm particulary in

by veddox 6y ago

I've just started learning biblical Hebrew, and I must say I find it a fascinating language - especially its alphabet (or aleph-bet, rather). I'm particulary intrigued by the development visible in the writing: how it started off with only consonants as one of the very early writing systems, and then had multiple phases of "retrofitting" vowels with various systems (first the mater lectionis, then the vowel symbols). And then, finally, modern Hebrew writing, which has dropped all of those vowels again (don't quite understand that bit yet :D ).

pron 6y ago
Modern Hebrew does have the same vowel diacritics used since the early middle ages, but they're used only in children's books as training wheels, in poetry (e.g. see Haaretz's poetry section: https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/poetry https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/poetry), and occasionally to resolve ambiguities in literary prose. They're rarely used in, say, news reports, even to clarify foreign names, which results in common mispronunciations (worse, they even omit the diacritic that distinguishes B/V and P/F, which makes foreign names truly ambiguous -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagesh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagesh). BTW, because modern Hebrew was revived from biblical Hebrew, biblical Hebrew is completely understandable to the modern Hebrew speaker, and sounds only a little archaic; something like how 18th century English sounds to a modern English speaker. Shakespeare's 16th century English is more foreign to the modern English speaker than biblical Hebrew is to the modern Hebrew speaker. English has continuously changed, while ancient Hebrew was transported to the late 19th century. Funnily, because the revivers of Hebrew preferred biblical Hebrew over, say, medieval Hebrew, medieval texts might sound more archaic to modern Hebrew speakers than more ancient ones.
samus 6y ago
The vowel symbols were never truly required for reading, as is the case for most semitic languages. They became common when Hebrew declined as a spoken language to teach people how to properly read the Torah. Since the revitalization of Hebrew as a spoken language this aid is required only for language learners. Also, the language has started to evolve again (that's what invariably happens with native speakers). Slowly of course, but if I may guess, any vowel symbols on existing texts will be of purely historical interest by the end of the century.
- Al-Khwarizmi 6y ago
  Vwl symbls r nt strctly rqrd fr rdng n nglsh thr, bt thy crtnly mk rdng smplr!
  - Koshkin 6y ago
    (FYI 'y' is a vowel, too.)
elcritch 6y ago
Wait until you get to the verb stems [1]! I found Hebrew somewhat mathematical in its overall grammatical structure. Often I could predict what the next grammer construct would unlike most other language courses I've taken. It was fun! Alas, I haven't had any Israeli`s around to practice modern hebrew. 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_verbs#Stems https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_verbs#Stems
dvirsky 6y ago
It's interesting that as a native Hebrew reader, while I _know_ that it doesn't have vowels, it doesn't feel like it when I'm reading. It dsnt rd lk nglsh wth th vwls rmvd t ll. First of all, you've got י and ו denoting i/ee, o and u/oo sounds in most words, א and ה for a word ending with a or ah, etc. But I guess it's mostly just my brain being trained in it.

by veddox 6y ago

pron 6y ago

Modern Hebrew does have the same vowel diacritics used since the early middle ages, but they're used only in children's books as training wheels, in poetry (e.g. see Haaretz's poetry section: https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/poetry https://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/poetry), and occasionally to resolve ambiguities in literary prose. They're rarely used in, say, news reports, even to clarify foreign names, which results in common mispronunciations (worse, they even omit the diacritic that distinguishes B/V and P/F, which makes foreign names truly ambiguous -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagesh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagesh). BTW, because modern Hebrew was revived from biblical Hebrew, biblical Hebrew is completely understandable to the modern Hebrew speaker, and sounds only a little archaic; something like how 18th century English sounds to a modern English speaker. Shakespeare's 16th century English is more foreign to the modern English speaker than biblical Hebrew is to the modern Hebrew speaker. English has continuously changed, while ancient Hebrew was transported to the late 19th century. Funnily, because the revivers of Hebrew preferred biblical Hebrew over, say, medieval Hebrew, medieval texts might sound more archaic to modern Hebrew speakers than more ancient ones.

samus 6y ago

The vowel symbols were never truly required for reading, as is the case for most semitic languages. They became common when Hebrew declined as a spoken language to teach people how to properly read the Torah. Since the revitalization of Hebrew as a spoken language this aid is required only for language learners. Also, the language has started to evolve again (that's what invariably happens with native speakers). Slowly of course, but if I may guess, any vowel symbols on existing texts will be of purely historical interest by the end of the century.

Al-Khwarizmi 6y ago
Vwl symbls r nt strctly rqrd fr rdng n nglsh thr, bt thy crtnly mk rdng smplr!
- Koshkin 6y ago
  (FYI 'y' is a vowel, too.)

elcritch 6y ago

Wait until you get to the verb stems [1]! I found Hebrew somewhat mathematical in its overall grammatical structure. Often I could predict what the next grammer construct would unlike most other language courses I've taken. It was fun! Alas, I haven't had any Israeli`s around to practice modern hebrew. 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_verbs#Stems https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew_verbs#Stems

dvirsky 6y ago

It's interesting that as a native Hebrew reader, while I _know_ that it doesn't have vowels, it doesn't feel like it when I'm reading. It dsnt rd lk nglsh wth th vwls rmvd t ll. First of all, you've got י and ו denoting i/ee, o and u/oo sounds in most words, א and ה for a word ending with a or ah, etc. But I guess it's mostly just my brain being trained in it.