Re: missing Hebrew point left holam

From: John Cowan (cowan@locke.ccil.org)
Date: Wed Jun 09 1999 - 10:04:48 EDT


Timothy Partridge wrote:

> The only exception I
> can find is the rare Yiddish with redundant pointing. Here most alefs
> represent a vowel and have a point on them, so no risk of jumping. Alef
> without a point (shtumer alef) only seems to occur at the start of a word,

IIRC there are two other kinds of unpointed alefs in Yiddish writing:
"ornans", which appears at the ends of words and represents a
schwa no longer pronounced (as in dales-yod-alef, "di"), now dropped
in Standard Yiddish writing but present in older manuscripts; and
"dividens", which is used to separate consecutive yods or vavs
to make it clear that they are not diphthongs.

-- 
John Cowan	http://www.ccil.org/~cowan		cowan@ccil.org
	You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
	You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
		Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)



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