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<DIV>In a message dated 11/25/2008, nwitty@optonline.net writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>As to R'
Bennett's comment: only groniyot alef-heh-ayin-chet take a
<BR>chatf-anything ina place that a sheva would have been called for had
<BR>the letter been any other.<BR><BR>We have all seen the raish take it as
well, perhaps because it is gronit <BR>(is it really?).
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>I've wondered about that as well. In Israel most people pronounce the
"r" in the back of their throats like Russians, so it does seem to be gronit,
but some people pronounce reish as a rolling "r" with the tongue behind the
front teeth, up against the palate -- sort of like Scotchmen -- while Americans
of course pronounce the "r" in the front of their mouths. And many Asians
find it hard to pronounce it at all, producing an "L" sound instead. I
think it's safe to assume that reish was not originally pronounced the way
Americans pronounce "r" but how /was/ it originally pronounced? It is
strange to think that there are several totally different ways one letter
could be pronounced.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 PTSIZE="10"
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