[Avodah] Pronunciation of ויה

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 10:11:16AM -0500, Zvi Lampel wrote:
:                       (And just a note that technically, while in English 
: the Va-ye-chi pronunciation would be considered three syllables, Hebrew 
: dikduk considers the sh'va na part of the following syllable, not a 
: separate one. So it would still be considered a two-syllable word, just as 
: "Sh'ma," or b'nee," for example, are considered one-syllable words.)

The "yechi" can physically be one syllable, it has two vowels
with a consonant between them. Similarly, I don't know how "shema" can be
physically said in only one syllable. Perhaps you're referring to a
different diqduq concept that is only loosely translated as
"syllable"? What's the original?

Personally, I thought the "rules" for sheva were more about rules for
open vs closed syllables than for the sheva itself. A sheva nach is
just indicating that a mid-word syllable (or a khaf sofis) is closing
a syllable. Thus, an os degushah, which closes one syllable as well
as starts the next one, has to take a sheva nakh or else you have a
"syllable" of a consonant with no vowel. Similarly the sheva under the
first letter of a word. And since long and short vowels also imply open
vs closed syllables, and Matres lectionis stand in for the closing letter
of an open vowel, they too imply sheva na or sheva nach, accordingly.

As I noted in previous years, the maamar that "vayhi" (or "vayhi
biymei") introduced tzarah has a phonic resononance when you realize it
sounds like "Vai hi!"

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is a drop of intellect drowning in a sea
micha at aishdas.org        of instincts.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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