VOWEL LENGTH AND SYLLABLE STRUCTURE IN THE TIBERIAN TRADITION OF BIBLICAL HEBREW

1987 ◽  
Vol XXXII (1) ◽  
pp. 23-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEOFFREY KHAN
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Vowel Length

The historical background of the vowel ṣere in some Hebrew verbal and nominal forms

1994 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-144
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Khan
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Arabic Orthography ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Classical Arabic

One of the most important sources for our knowledge of the length of vowels in the Tiberian tradition of Biblical Hebrew is a corpus of manuscripts containing transcriptions of the Hebrew Bible into Arabic letters. In most of the manuscripts the Arabic transcription employs the orthography of Classical Arabic to represent the sounds of Hebrew. Since Classical Arabic orthography used matres lectionis systematically to mark long vowels we are able to reconstruct the distribution of long and short vowels in Tiberian Hebrew. The transcriptions show us that the main factors determining vowel length were stress and syllable structure.

scholarly journals Syllable structure and extrametricality

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Carmen Jany ◽  
Carlos Nash ◽  
Nobutaka Takara
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Functional Basis ◽  
Final Stress ◽  
Stress Asymmetry ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Universal Pattern ◽  
Duration Theory

This paper proposes a functional basis for final consonant extrametricality, the asymmetric status of CVC syllables as stress-attracting in non-final position of a word but stress-rejecting in final position. A typological study of phonemic vowel length pattern in 10 languages with this final vs. non-final stress asymmetry and 30 languages in which CVC attracts stress in final position indicates a robust asymmetry between languages differing in their stress system’s treatment of final CVC. Languages that asymmetrically allow stress on non-final but not on final CVC all lack phonemic vowel length contrast in final position, whereas those lacking the stress asymmetry often have contrastive length in final vowels. It is claimed that the absence of phonemic length in languages that do not stress final CVC facilitates the nearly universal pattern of phonetic final lengthening, which threatens to obscure the perception of phonemic length. The enhanced lengthening of final vowels in languages with final phonemic vowel length reduces the duration ratio of CVC relative to CV, thereby reducing CVC’s perceptual prominence and thus its propensity to attract stress in keeping with Lunden’s (2006) proportional duration theory of weight. A phonetic study of two languages differing in the stress-attracting ability of final CVC offers support for the proposed account. Arabic, which displays consonant extrametricality and largely lacks phonemic vowel length in final position, has substantial final vowel lengthening, whereas Kabardian, which stresses final CVC and contrasts vowel length in final position, lacks substantial final lengthening.

Foot and Syllable Structure in Modern Icelandic

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory K. Iverson ◽  
Courtenay A. Kesterson
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Foot Structure

As is well known, vowel length in Modern Icelandic is in general predictable on the basis of syllable structure such that, in polysyllabic words, stressed vowels in open syllables are long, other vowels are short; in stressed monosyllables, however, vowels are long whether the syllable is open or closed by a single consonant, and short only when the syllable is closed by a consonant cluster. In contrast to the ‘final maximalistic’ strategy of Árnason (1980) and other unlikely syllabification schemes designed to unify these two patterns, we invoke Giegerich's (1985) characterization of foot structure as applied to German and English, according to which stressed monosyllables categorize metrically as disyllabic feet whose rightmost member is null. Thus, CVC structures are metrically /CV.CØ/, with the result that the generalization regarding vowel length in words of all types is simply that stressed vowels in open syllables are long, others short.

scholarly journals Categoricity, Variation, and Gradience in Sambla Balafon Segmental Encoding

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura McPherson
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Behavior ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Rhythmic Structure ◽  
Inner Voice ◽  
Phonetic Detail

This paper analyzes the musical surrogate encoding of Seenku (Mande, Burkina Faso) syllable structure on the balafon, a resonator xylophone used by the Sambla ethnicity. The elements of syllable structure that are encoded include vowel length, sesquisyllabicity, diphthongs, and nasal codas. Certain elements, like vowel length and sesquisyllabicity, involve categorical encoding through conscious rules of surrogate speech, while others, like diphthongs and nasal codas, vary between being treated as simple or complex. Beyond these categorical encodings, subtler aspects of rhythmic structure find their way into the speech surrogate through durational differences; these include duration differences from phonemic distinctions like vowel length in addition to subphonemic differences due to phrasal position. I argue that these subconscious durational differences arise from a “phonetic filter”, which mediates between the musician’s inner voice and their non-verbal behavior. Specifically, syllables encoded on the balafon may be timed according to the perceptual center (p-center) of natural spoken rhythm, pointing to a degree of phonetic detail in a musician’s inner speech.

Cayuga Accent: A Synchronic Analysis

1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-322
Author(s):  
Carrie Dyck
Keyword(s):  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Metrical Structure ◽  
Vowel Length

AbstractCayuga (Northern Iroquoian) is a pitch accent language displaying different conditions for the accenting and lengthening of even-numbered and odd-numbered penults (counting from left to right). It is shown that Cayuga accent placement is predictable from metrical structure, and that metrical structure is in turn influenced by constraints on syllable structure. Syllable structure constraints are that: 1) all things being equal, coda consonants are parsed as light; and 2) vowel length is dispreferred. In odd-numbered penults, dispreferred syllable structure can be avoided, and this results in accented odd-numbered open penults and unaccented odd-numbered closed penults. In even-numbered penults, dispreferred syllable structure (especially that resulting from lengthening) is required in order to avoid metrically adjacent strong elements, and this results in the accenting of all even-numbered penults. The accenting patterns of Cayuga ultimately derive from the fact that Cayuga is a quantity-sensitive language that disprefers quantity.

scholarly journals Remarks on syllable structure and metrical structure in Biblical Hebrew

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-30
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Khan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Oral Reading ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Metrical Structure ◽  
Sign Systems ◽  
Internal Sequence ◽  
The Middle Ages

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.

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