[Mesorah] nasog achor

[T613K at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/16/2008 3:55:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
remt at juno.com writes:


Why is it any more difficult to say "haVU  Godel" than to say, e.g., "beTWEEN 
MEEtings"?

The  reason you hear "HAvu GOdel" so commonly is because that's what people 
expect  it to be, and are simply unaware that nasog achor is not applied here.  
 If we were to judge by what most people say, I would conclude that it's  
difficult to pronounce l'EIla and sh'maYA in kaddish, since most people say  
l'eiLA and sh'MAya.  

EMT



>>>>
A lot of years ago I took a linguistics course in  college and I have 
forgotten almost everything but I do remember that there are  not only two choices -- 
stressed and unstressed syllables.  There is also  such a thing as a lightly 
stressed syllable.  Typically a four-syllable  word (or a two-word phrase like 
"between meetings") has one stressed syllable  and one lightly stressed 
syllable and two unstressed syllables.  Like  "information" -- "in" is lightly 
stressed, "ma" takes the main stress.   "Between meetings" -- "tween" is lightly 
stressed, "meet" has the main stress. 
 
I have no idea whether this is true in Hebrew as well, but I do know that  it 
would be hard to place equal stress on each stressed syllable in normal  
speech, unless you deliberately slowed your speech. Of course leining is not  
normal speech, it is more like song.  However whenever I wade into Mesorah  waters 
I am always sorry because my level of knowledge and expertise qualify me  -- 
at best -- to be a lurker.  I am always abashed when people actually  respond 
to my mesorah maunderings.
 

--Toby
--Toby  Katz
GCT
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