[Mesorah] Yid-mu vs Yi-demu

[Mandel, Seth via Mesorah]

Absolutely.  You can learn to pronounce the dagesh easily (double the letter), but that is not the point.  The dagesh clearly distinguishes the words.
Your complaint is just like all Ashkanzim, who do not distinguish the ‘ayin from the 'aleph, and so pronounce the words עתה and אתה identically.  The point is that the words are distinguished by the ‘ayin and the 'aleph, and the question of whether the particular person who is reading pronounces things differently is an entirely different issue (and, in contradistinction to the dagesh, I am NOT saying that one can easily learn to pronounce the ‘ayin, although everyone who learns Arabic seems to manage).
Seth Mandel


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeremy Rosenbaum Simon [mailto:jrs3 at nyu.edu] 
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 8:32 AM
To: Gershon
Cc: Mandel, Seth; mesora at aishdas.org
Subject: Re: [Mesorah] Yid-mu vs Yi-demu

Yes, R. Mandel's point, I believe, is that if is only by looking at the dagesh that you can understand thd difference. The shva doesn't clarify the meaning.

On Jan 29, 2015, at 8:15 PM, Gershon via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org> wrote:

> But one does not pronounce dagesh/no dagesh (well I don't) , one 
> pronounces na/nach
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jan 29, 2015, at 6:06 PM, Mandel, Seth <mandels at ou.org> wrote:
>>
>> the real difference is in the dagesh.  With a dagesh, it is from the root d-m-m, meaning to be silent (and, of course, the shwa is na').  Without the dagesh, it is from the root d-m-h, meaning to be similar (and the sh'wa is silent).
>> Cherchez la dagesh, which is in place of doubling.
>>
>> Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Mesorah [mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org] on behalf of 
>> Gershon via Mesorah [mesorah at lists.aishdas.org]
>> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 4:50 PM
>> To: mesora at aishdas.org
>> Subject: [Mesorah] Yid-mu vs Yi-demu
>>
>> Can our learned membership opine on the Sheva in this word in the shiras hayam having a different meaning as na or nach?
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
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