[Avodah] Ancient Ashkenazi Hebrew

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 11:17:31AM +0300, R D Bannett wrote on the thread
"THE HEAD MOVEMENTS OF SHEMA":
> This evidently happened some hundreds of years ago. Perhaps RSM could 
> tell us when, why, and how. But I've commented in the past on the many 
> changes in custom that have developed during my lifetime.

Neither German nor East European languages have the /dh/ sound that
begins the word "that", nor the /th/ of "thing", nor a soft gutteral
like a ches nor a voiced pharyngeal fricative like a Sepharadi, Teimani
or Teverian ayin. I don't think it takes RSM's expertise to figure out
why Ashkenazi Hebrew lacks these sounds. The only question is which were
lost, and which were never there to be lost.

Look how quickly the American reish became the same sound as in English.
The same process held in the past too. (Although now that we have
recordings, I would think such drift will be slowing down.)

Ayin in particular was likely not the Sepharadi sound. The evidence
of the nickname Yankl points more to the /ng/ of the Italkim.

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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