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I was wondering if there is any definitive research on whether or not the W in Peshitta Syriac is pronounced as a "W" or as a "V". Those who teach biblical Hebrew seem to believe that in Hebrew, it is "V" and not "W".
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Shlama Jerry,
As far as I know, waw is/was pronounced like a "w" (but a soft beth was a "v"). Most think that the same holds true for Biblical Hebrew.
Let me ask you this: for those who teach that Biblical Hebrew had vav, do they pronounce the letter qof (??) like a "k" or like the Syriac qoph ([font="Estrangelo (V1.1)"]q[/font])? If they pronounce it like "k," then they're probably using the Modern Israeli Hebrew pronunciation (which, I think, is based off the languages that diaspora Jews spoke in Europe like German/Yiddish and Russian, which don't have "w" or "q" sounds).
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Thanks for the reply, Karl. For biblical Hebrew, they used this:
Bet, "v" as in "cave"
Bet-dagesh, "b" as in "bat"
Vav, "v" as in "vine"
Kaph, "ch" as in "Bach"
Kaph-dagesh, "k" as in "keep"
Qoph, "k" as in "keep"
Is the Syriac Qoph considered to be different than "k"? Like maybe just slightly softer, inbetween the "k" and "ch"?
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Shlama,
Syriac Qoph corresponds to Arabic Qaf. It is a sound further back in the throat than Kaph.
//Lars