JAL328H1 Lecture 5: Lecture 5 - from abjads to alphabets
Document Summary
Matres lectionis: some vowels are written with consonants as unpointed; optional diacritics. Write consonants and pronounce them as vowels. Neqqudot: added diacritics used by modern hebrew. Two different ways of writing long vowels; one way of writing short vowels. Geminate: long consonant (no geminates in modern hebrew) Regional variants of aramaic script -> eventually, arabic. Based on cursive form of nabataean aramaic; new letters were created. Dots to differentiate the 18 rasms (similar base shape) to make more letters. Dots aren"t diacritics anymore but separate whole letters. I. e. voiceless uvular fricative -> narrow the pharynx to pronounce the second articulation. Cursive; obligatory non-structural ligatures according to allographic rules (shape of letter depends on position of letter in the word) Uses matres lectionis to indicate vowels (long = always ml and rarely with diacritics added) Optional diacritics for short vowels (only diacritics, never ml) Vowel diacritics are only used in certain contexts (religious, children"s books, learning texts)
