CHAPTER 4 Duane A. Garrett & Jason S. DeRouchie A MODERN GRAMMAR FOR BIBLICAL HEBREW (B&H, 2009)

Accent Shift and Vowel Changes CHAPTER 4

דָּ/בָר אֱ/לֹ /הִים Key Terms Open syllable: CV Closed syllable: CVC Ultima: Last syllable of a word Penult: 2nd-to-last syllable of a word Antepenult: 3rd-to-last syllable of a word Tone syllable: The accented syllable Pretonic: The syllable immediately in front of the accented syllable Propretonic: The syllable immediately preceding the pretonic Distant: Any syllable preceding the pretonic Full vowel: All long & short vowels Reduced vowel: Shewa and Hateph vowels/composite Shewas

Syllable Definitions with בְּרָכָה and מִצְרַ֫יִם

Vowel Transformation Rules 1 Accented syllables have full vowels. דָּבָר , עֶ֫בֶד , עַם 2 Open unaccented syllables are long or reduced, not short אֱ/דָ/מָה , דָּ/בָר 3 Closed, unaccented syllables are short מַלְ/כָּה 4 Open pretonics are generally long 5 Open distant syllables generally reduce אֱ/לֹ/הִים , דְּ/בָ/רִים 6 Open distant syllables with unchangable long vowels do not reduce שׁוֹ/פְ/טִים 7 If distant will not reduce, open pretonic may (esp. i- or u-class vowels) See next page

E.g., Absolute שׁוֹפֵט > plural שׁוֹפְטִים Step 1 שׁוֹ/פֵט Singular form with i-class stem vowel /פֵט/ Step 2 *שׁוֹ/פֵ/טִים With plural ending, accent shifts to new syllable /טִים/, so that /שׁוֹ/ is now open propretonic (distant); but the Holem Waw will not reduce Step 3 שׁוֹ/פְ/טִים The pretonic vowel Tsere of the singular form (שׁוֹ/פֵט) reduces to Shewa in /פְ/ of the plural form = open pretonic reduction

Rules of Vowel Transformation

Vowel Transformation Rules 8 Compensatory lengthening happens in vowels preceding a guttural that will not double as expected מִשַּׁ֫עַר מֵאָשֵׁר (vs) 9 Sometimes א will quiesce: (a) א with no vowel (b) preceding vowel lengthens חַטָּאת 10 Vowel combinations that contracts with loss of accent עֵין < עַ֫יִן מוֹת < מָ֫וֶת

Vowel Transformation Rules Accented syllables have full vowels (long or short, not reduced). Open, unaccented syllables are long or reduced, never short. Closed, unaccented syllables are short. Open pretonics are generally long. Open distants generally reduce to Shewa or composite Shewa. Open distants with an unchangeable long vowels will not reduce. If a distant syllable will not reduce, an open pretonic may (esp. with i- and u-class vowels) Gutturals & ר will not double, resulting in compensatory lengthening. At times, א will “quiesce,” resulting in lengthening of preceding vowel 10. Vowel combinations that contract to single vowels when the accent is lost: E.g., עֵין < עַ֫יִן and מוֹת < מָ֫וֶת