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Yitzik,
Thanks for your input. I agree that there was a transition from the
earlier Semitic /a/ to the later Canaanite /o/ in the Hebrew
language. That is what I was trying to say, that the earlier speech
of the Hebrew people was void of Canaanite influence. The
original /a/ vowel over an original /o/ is what I was taught since I
was young. One must remember that the Hebrew people didn't
originate in Canaan but rather migrated westward from Ur of the
Kasdim in Shumer. The /o/ vowel primacy may hold up for later time
periods, i.e., once the Hebrews had settled in Canaan, but before
that time I very much doubt that they used it. The /a/ and the /u/
would have been much more prominant, especially under the influence
of Akkadian.
Yes, I do realize that "kahna" is the emphatic state, but in my
family's dialect of Aramaic it carries no more emphasis than the
absolute state. We use a Neo-Aramaic dialect called Isarlaic for all
our religious activities. I'm actually writing up a grammar and a
leksiqon for my senior undergrad project. Thanks again.
Push va Shlama, ("Remain in Peace")
Jacob
--- In westasianconlangs@yahoogroups.com, "Isaac Penzev"
<isaacp@u...> wrote:
>
> I strongly doubt it was so. Transition from Semitic /a:/ to
Canaanite /o:/
> is well established by comparative studies and dated by appr. 14-
12 cc.
> BCD - that can be seen from glosses in old docs in other langs. If
you look
> at Hebrew's nearest cousin, Phoenician, it has it even one step
further,
> /a:/ > /u:/ (as in Yiddish ;)).
> Absence of waw proves nothing. In words like |hho:q| 'statute' we
see normal
> shortening to |hhuqqi:m| in pl, regularly correspondent to its
analogy among
> front vowels |hhe:s.| 'arrow' > |hhis.s.i:m|, and there is no waw
in the
> former (as well as no yod in the latter).
>
>
> Why not? I'd like just to note, that |ka:hna:| is an "emphatic"
form of the
> noun, while its absolute/dictionary form is |ka:he:n|.
>
>
> Shalom l'kha! Salaam 3alayki! And welcome to the group! Do you
study Aramaic
> (judging by the sig above)?
> -- Yitzik
>
> PS: This thread and translating lectures about Islam at the moment
make me
> wanting more and more to resurrect the "Ajami" project...
>