Revived Languages

Deborah   Tuesday, April 26, 2005, 17:02 GMT
Greg, Arabic has the same concept, which you might already know.
greg   Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 07:29 GMT
Deborah and Ori,

Yes, I read there is a rather specific treatment for Arabic vowels as in Hebrew but I wasn't sure if the vowels were 'official' or infered by context (apparently both cases may happen, if I understand what Ori said).

A silly question : is Old Hebrew more 'complex' than Modern Hebrew ?
Another one : could a Modern-Hebrew speaker understand Old Hebrew (spoken or written) without having learnt the language ?
JB   Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 16:15 GMT
Greg,

The vowels (nikud) are official. Like Arabic they consist of marks and dots. Interestingly, this system of vowels created by the Masorets in the middle ages is fairly recent in terms of the language's history. Like Ori mentioned, there is a system literally called 'mothers of reading' which helps us infer the sound by specific placement of a vowel-sounding consonants. I know I sound confusing but I think if you were to see it you would be able to comprehend easily.

In terms of your other question, 'Old Hebrew' is more complex in terms of pronounciation. Like Ori mentioned, there are far more vowel markings than vowels actually pronounced today, which indicates there were more vowels in the past. Gramatically, Old Hebrew is more Semitic as it only has 2 tenses, but I don't think it's necessarily harder than Modern Hebrew. Learning Hebrew from my Israeli parents, I can read any of the old language and pretty much understand everything. Some things, like the book of Psalms, are really poetic and are difficult but not impossible. I think any modern Hebrew speaker, even a speaker who's not native, could easily understand Biblical Hebrew, but it may take a little practice. Without the vowels, it's sometimes hard to pronounce the words because in Biblical Hebrew they aren't always what they seem. For example, if the word Negev (like the Negev desert) comes at the end of a sentence, it may be pronounced Nagev. But you still know the meaning of the word.

Hope that helps!
greg   Wednesday, April 27, 2005, 21:58 GMT
JB : it helped at lot. Thanx.