Remarks on syllable structure and metrical structure in Biblical Hebrew

Geoffrey Khan

doi:10.1163/18776930-01201005

Abstract

Abstract In the Middle Ages Biblical Hebrew was transmitted in a variety of oral reading traditions, which became textualized in systems of vocalization signs. The two most important oral traditions were the Tiberian and the Babylonian, which were represented by different vocalization sign systems. These two oral traditions had their origins in ancient Palestine. Although closely related, they exhibit several differences. These include differences in syllable and metrical structure. This paper examines how the syllable and metrical structure of the two traditions reflected by the medieval vocalization sign systems should be reconstructed. The Tiberian tradition exhibits an ‘onset typology’ of syllabification, where word-internal /CCC/ clusters are syllabified /C.CC/ and word-initial clusters are syllabified within the onset /CC-/. The Babylonian tradition exhibits a right-to-left computation of syllables resulting in a ‘coda typology,’ whereby the second consonant of a word-internal sequence /CCC/ is syllabified as a coda, viz. /CC.C/, and word-initial clusters are syllabified C.C, with the first consonant extra-syllabic.

Highlights

Tiberian Hebrew – Babylonian Hebrew – syllable – syllabification – foot – vowel length – epenthesis – onset typology – coda typology via free access khan
In this paper I shall examine some features of the structure of syllables and metrical structure in the Tiberian and Babylonian reading traditions of Biblical Hebrew
The Tiberian vocalization has come down to us as the standard form of written vocalization, the oral Tiberian reading tradition that it originally reflected was largely lost to knowledge in the later Middle Ages and Jewish communities read the Tiberian signs with other local traditions of pronunciation

Summary

Introduction

Tiberian Hebrew – Babylonian Hebrew – syllable – syllabification – foot – vowel length – epenthesis – onset typology – coda typology via free access khan. These manuscripts sometimes represent a short /a/ vowel in a closed unstressed syllable with a ḥaṭef pataḥ or a shewa sign.5 Even some of the standard Tiberian Masoretic codices contain a few cases of such a phenomenon, e.g. in Codex Leningradensis (L): ‫‘ ֽ ַבּ ֲחְר ֻט ִ ֖מּם‬on the magicians’

Results

Conclusion