Edition 1.4

5 February 2012

 

 To print use PDF file here

 

History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language

By David Steinberg

David.Steinberg@houseofdavid.ca

Home page http://www.houseofdavid.ca/

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew.htm

 

Companion E-Book - Biblical Hebrew Poetry and Word Play - Reconstructing the Original Oral, Aural and Visual Experience

 

Table of Contents

TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND LINGUISTIC SYMBOLS

1. Survey of the Semitic languages

Box 1 - What is a Semitic √Root?

2. History of Hebrew from its pre-history to the present

2.1 Pre-Exilic Hebrew (PreExH)

a) Varieties of Pre-exilic Hebrew

b) Social Base of Pre-Exilic Hebrew

c) Time, Aspect and Volition in Biblical Hebrew

Box 2 - Joϋon-Muraoka on Time, Aspect and Volition in Biblical Hebrew

Table 1 - What Time does the Biblical Hebrew Participle Refer to when Used Verbally?

Box 3 - What is the “waw conversive"?

Box 4 - The Origin of the “waw conversive"

Table 2 - Time/Tense in Biblical Poetry

d) Changes Pending in Biblical Hebrew

2.2 Post-Exilic Hebrew (PostExH) - Written/Oral Diglossia

Box 5 - Some Factors in the Rise of Post-Exilic Hebrew

Background to Dialect, Koine and Diglossia in Ancient Hebrew Clarification from Colloquial Arabic

a) Development of Proto-Mishnaic Hebrew (c. 586 BCE-c. 70 BC).

b) The Impact of Aramaic

Box 6 - Influence of Aramaic on Post-Exilic Hebrew

c) Mishnaic or Rabbinic Hebrew

Table 3 - Deriving the Construct State from the Absolute State is More Complex in TH than in EBHP

2.3 Changes in the Pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew Between the Early 6th Century BCE and that Recorded in the Tiberian Masoretic Tradition (early 10th century CE)

o        Changes in Pronunciation Between the First Temple Period, Tiberian Biblical Vocalization and Modern Hebrew most of which Alter the Syllabic Structure

o        Consonants that Were Distinct and Phonemic in the First Temple Period that Have Merged in Modern Pronunciation

o        Consonants that Exist in Modern Pronunciation but were absent in Hebrew of the First Temple Period

o        Linguistic Changes Affecting the Pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew 2000 B.C.E. - 850 C.E. According to Various Scholars

o        Dialect, Koine and Diglossia in Ancient Hebrew: Clarification from Colloquial Arabic

o        Words Significantly Different in Pronunciation in Pre-Exilic Hebrew

o       Syllables Ending in Doubled Consonants in Pre-Exilic Hebrew

2.4  Between the Mishnah and the Revival of Hebrew in the Late 19th Century

2.5  Modern or Israeli Hebrew

Box 7 - Koineization, Creole and Decreolization in the Formation of IH

2.6 Major Changes Between Ancient Hebrew and Israeli Hebrew

2.7 Israeli Hebrew and Modern Arabic – a Few Differences and Many Parallels

Table 4 - Western-type Compound Nouns and Adjectives in Israeli Hebrew and MSA

Table 5 -  Modern Hebrew and MSA Common Noun Patterns

3. Select Bibliography

4.  Excurses

o        Illustration - The Semitic Family of Languages

o        Box 8 - Scripts and Scripture

·         Excursus 1 - Phonemic Structure of Pre-Exilic, Tiberian and Israeli Hebrew Contrasted

A Note on the Use of Post-Exilic Evidence Regarding the pronunciation of BH

a. What is a Phoneme?

Box 9 - Phones and Phonemes

b. Vowel and Consonant Length

Box 10 - Nature of Consonant and Vowel Length

Box 11 - Were Vowel Quantity and Consonant Quantity Phonemic in Biblical Hebrew?

Box 12 - Trade-off Between Vowel and Consonant Length

Box 13 - Pausal Forms

Table 6 - Distinctive Vowel Length and Syllable Type in EBHP and their Reflex in TH

Table 7 - Phonemic Status of Vowel and Consonant Length and Quality and of Word Stress over the History of the Hebrew Language

Table 8 - Phonemic Status of Vowel and Phonetic Realization of Vowel and Consonant Length in EBHP, TH and BHIH

c. Consonental Phonemes

Table - Reflexes of Proto-Semitic sounds in daughter languages

Table 9 - Consonants in EBHP, TH, [BHIH] and [THCSP IS-ENG]

Table 10 - EBHP Heterogeneous Diphthongs and their Development in LBHP, TH and BHIH

Box 14 - Consonantal Polyphony in Biblical Hebrew

Table 11  - Consonantal Minimal Pairs in Biblical Hebrew No Longer Valid in Later Hebrew

Table 12 - Voiced, Voiceless and Emphatic Consonants in Biblical Hebrew

Table 13 - Proto-Semitic Phonemes (Consonants) Exhibiting Sound Shifts in Hebrew and Their Equivalents in Aramaic and Classical Arabic

Table 14 - Biblical Hebrew Phonemes (Consonants) of Multiple Origin and their Equivalents in Proto-Semitic, Classical Arabic, Aramaic and Ugaritic

d. Vowel Phonemes

d.1 Diachronic Development of the Biblical Hebrew Vowel System

Box 15 - Distinctive Features of Hebrew Vowels

Table 15 - Proto-Semitic to Tiberian Hebrew - Vowel Phonemes with Possible Allophones

Box 16 - Semitic Vowels and their Actualization

Table 16 - Long Vowels in EBHP by Origin

Table 17 - Shifts in Proto-Semitic Vowels as Hebrew Developed

Table 18 - Vowel Length Minimal Pairs in Biblical Hebrew and their Transformation in Later Hebrew

Table 19 - Vowel Phonemes Minimal Pairs in */EBHP/

Box 17 - Distinctive Features of TH Vowels

Table 20 – Vowel System Tiberian Hebrew

Table 21 - Tiberian Vowels of the Same Quality often Have Diverse Origins

Box 18 - Vowel System - Modern Israeli Hebrew (IH)

d.2 Conventional Scholarly Transcription of the TH Vowel System (THCST)

Table 22 - THSBL Transcription of TH Vowel System

e. Ancient Hebrew Orthography Provides Some, But Not Much, Guidance Regarding the Placement, and Nature of Vowels

Box 19 - Diphthongs

Box 20 - Origin of Matres Lectionis (Vowel Letters)

Box 21 - Matres Lectionis in Hebrew

Matres Lectionis in JEH

Box 22 - Matres Lectionis in the Biblical Text

f. Reading Traditions of Biblical Hebrew 

Table 23 - EBHP, TH and the Phonetic Realizations of BH in Key Modern Pronunciations

Box 23 - The Nature of Stress in Ancient and Modern Hebrew

Box 24 - The Independent Pronouns in EBHP and Colloquial Arabic Dialects

Box 25 - The Case System of Proto-Hebrew and  the Pronominal Suffixes of the Noun

Box 26 Nouns - Absolute, Construct and Pronominal Forms

Table 24 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Independent Pronoun

Table 25 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Pronominal Suffixes of the Noun

Table 26 - Pronominal Object Suffixes of the SC Verb

Table 27 - Pronominal Object Suffixes of the PC Verb

Table 28 - History of the Accusative Particle 'ẹt and its Inflected Form' ōtō = "him"

Table 29 - Stressed Noun Suffixes in Biblical Hebrew

Table 30 - Locative ה

A. The Proto-Hebrew SC  and its Carry-Over into BH

Table 31 - Reconstructed PC Forms in PH and EBHP

Table 32 - Disappearance of Formal Distinctions between PCimp, PCjus and PCpret (not preceded by waC-) in Strong Verb Except for Parts of Hiphil

B. The Biblical Hebrew Verbal System

1. Classes of Verbs

Table 33 - Comparison of the Development (PH to TH) of Qal (a-u class) Jussive, Imperative, Infinitive Construct and Infinitive Absolute

Table 34 - Common Stative and Similar Qal Verbs

2. Background on Biblical Hebrew Prefix Conjugation

Time and Modal Implications of PC in Various Categories of BH Poetry

Table 35 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Verb Prefix Conjugation

3. Background on Biblical Hebrew Suffix Conjugation (traditional "perfect")

Table 36 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Verb - Suffix Conjugation

4. Participles, Imperatives and Infinitives

Table 37 - History of Stress and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Imperatives, Participles and Infinitives

Table 38 - Some Key Phonemic Distinctions in EBHP, TH and IH

Table 39 - Original Typical Semitic 3 Way Opposition in EBHP and TH Reduced to 2 Way in IH with Loss of Emphatics

Table 40 - Sound Shifts Between EBHP and IH

Table 41 - Some Impacts of Sound Shifts Between EBHP, TH and IH

Table 42 - Verbal Stems (Binyanim) in EBHP TH, and IH


To print this e-book use the files below -

 

File Name

Title

Pages

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrewtoc.pdf

Table of Contents

9

http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_abb_dia.pdf

TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND LINGUISTIC SYMBOLS

21

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew.pdf

History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language

72

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew1.pdf

Tables and Excurses

5

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2.pdf

Phonemic Structure - Consonants

38

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2a.pdf

Phonemic Structure - Vowels

35

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew3.pdf

Evolution of Pronunciation and Stress Patterns - pronouns etc.

22

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew3a.pdf

Evolution of Pronunciation and Stress Patterns - verbs

54

http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_diglossia.htm

Background to Dialect, Koine and Diglossia in Ancient Hebrew Clarification from Colloquial Arabic

47

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew4.pdf

Key Differences Between Biblical and Israeli Hebrew

10

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew5.pdf

Growth in the Number and Range of Israeli Hebrew Verbs

3

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_archTOC.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table of Contents

1

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_a.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table A -Tense Implications of SC and PC in the Same Verse

12

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_b.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table B - Present Tense Indicated by the use of the SC of a Stative or Quasi-stative Verb and the PCimp of an Action Verb in the Same Verse

3

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_c.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table C - PCpret_sim  and PCpretWC in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

3

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_d.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table D - PCpret_sim  and SC  in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

5

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_e.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table E - PCpretWC  and SC  in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

3

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_f.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table F - PCpret_sim  without PCpretWC or SC  in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

4

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_arch_h.pdf

Archaizing Poetry - Table H - A.P. Substitutes for PCimp

1

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_prof_pret.pdf

PCpret_sim in Prophetic Poetry

6

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsTOC.pdf

Aspects of the Use of Tenses in Psalms Table of Contents

1

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsa.pdf

Psalms - Table A - Tense Implications of SC and PC in the Same Verse

13

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsb.pdf

Psalms - Table B - Present Tense Indicated by the use of the SC of a Stative or Quasi-stative Verb and the PCimp of an Action Verb in the Same Verse

6

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsc.pdf

Psalms - Table C - PCpret_sim  and PCpretWC in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

6

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsd.pdf

Psalms - Table D - PCpret_sim  and SC  in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

11

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmse.pdf

Psalms - Table E - PCpretWC  and SC  in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

10

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsf.pdf

Psalms - Table F - PCpret_sim  without PCpretWC or SC  in the Same Verse Referring to the Past

6

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsg.pdf

Psalms - Table G - PCpretWC Should be Revocalized as PCimp Due to Contextually Required Meaning

4

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_psalmsh.pdf

Psalms - Table H - Substitutes for PCimp

3

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_ghrain.pdf

Lexicon /ġ/ [ɣ]

23

http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew_khet.pdf

Lexicon /ḫ/ [x]

48

Total pages

 

485