[Avodah] Changing Havarah

[SBA]

From: "David Cohen" <>
I am interested in learning more about the history of the adoption of
the Israeli pronunciation system...
====

Uriel Zimmer (no mean linguist himself) writes about it
in his booklet "Torah Judaism and the State of Israel" in the chapter
"Ivrith" and "L'shon Hakodesh" . available on-line
http://www.israelversusjudaism.org/torah-judaism/lshon-hakodesh.cfm

Some snippets..

In the course of transformation and "normalization" of the Jewish people,
the language naturally had to be transformed likewise. The "Holy Tongue"
which, ..plays such a fundamental role in the Torah, must also have its
place assigned to it under the new "normalized" set up. Just as Yisroel
became "the Jewish Nation", just as the Holy Land became first the
"Vaterland" and later "the State", just as Torah became a "religion", in the
same manner, "the Holy Tongue" had to become “the national language”. ....

the "revival of Hebrew" or, more precisely, its transformation from the
status of the Holy Tongue into the "national language" became almost a sport
with early Zionists. During the early stages of Zionism, it constituted the
easiest part of its task for, in those days, every Jew had some idea of
Hebrew through his prayer-book and Chumash. It is only after estrangement
from Torah Judaism, largely due to that very same Zionism, that learning
Hebrew seems to have become a task of exceptional difficulty for Zionists
residing in the diaspora...

... To make it more attractive on the one side, and to emphasize the
distinctness from the "L'shon Hakodesh" of the Beth Hamidrash, somebody
invented a special device: the so-called “Sephardic” pronunciation (which,
as we shall soon see,is not Sephardic at all). ...giving it an exotic
flavour. The reason given for the selection of the "Sephardic" pronunciation
was that it is the more ancient and the more original and correct way of
pronouncing Hebrew.

Scientifically speaking, this entire reasoning is, to say the least,
somewhat amateurish.
Firstly, one must not confuse all Oriental Jews with
those originating from Spain (Sephard). "Sephardi" pronunciation, in the
loose popular use of the term, is as varied as Ashkenazi.
Secondly, its “antiquity” as compared with the varieties of Ashkenazi
pronunciation is, again, to say the least, a fact which has yet to be 
proved.
Even if this were so, it would still be questionable, even from a purely 
nationalist
view-point, without any consideration for the traditional Jewish principle
of "Do not forsake thy mother's teaching" whether the antiquity of a
pronunciation necessarily means that it must continue to be followed in the
present and future.

 .... there is no scientific proof that the allegedly
“Sephardi” pronunciation really is the older one. The accepted scientific
opinion, and I am referring here to linguists and not necessarily to
orthodox Jews, is rather that both trends of pronunciation derive from
ancient dialects, the one having been used in the Southern part and the
other in the Northern part of Palestine. In any event, it remains a fact,
for instance, that the pronunciation of Hebrew of the Yemenites approximates
to the "Ashkenazic" pronunciation, as far as the vowels are concerned, of
Lithuanian Jews (inasmuch as the "cholom" is pronounced "ay"). Nor has
anyone ever claimed that Yemenite Jews had once been under any influence of
German Jews. According to their own tradition, the Jewish community of Yemen
dates back to the era of the First Temple.

..The Zionist adoption of the "Sephardi" pronunciation meant a double loss,
again, from the purely linguistic viewpoint, without any other
consideration.
 Ashkenazi pronunciations make a clearer distinction between
the vowels patach and kometz and distinguish between the aspirated and the
unaspirated "tav".
The "Sephardi" pronunciation, on the other hand, has the
advantage of distinguishing between the various gutturals (alef and ayin,
khof and het) but this distinction is made only by Jews who live in the
sphere of the Arabic language where these consonants are also distinctly
pronounced. There is, of course, no organic connection between the
"Sephardi" (kamatz-a) pronunciation and the distinct pronunciation of
gutturals. (Yemenites, who, as has been said, cling in some respects to the
"Ashkenazi" way of pronouncing vowels, pronounce consonants even more
distinctly than Sephardim inasmuch as they distinguish also between the
aspirate and inaspirate of d, g, and t).

Modern "Ivrit" pronunciation, even from the purely linguistic viewpoint,
combines the disadvantages and shortcomings of all groups.

Like "Sephardim", it disregards the distinctions between pathach and kamatz
and between aspirate and inaspirate tav, while retaining the Ashkenazi
disregard for the pronunciation of gutturals and the distinction between the
kaf and qof, etc.