Vowels

[Kriton Kyrimis]

HARRY:

> Vowels like AEOUI(Y)? Why would the consonants be omitted? How do you form
> sensible language with vowels only?

I was under the impression that written Hebrew consists exclusively of
consonants, with readers having to interpolate the vowels themselves.

I believe that this is a general feature of semitic languages. One
of the ancient greeks' major inventions was the idea of using some of
the letters of the alphabet to represent vowels, when they adopted the
phoenician (another semitic language) alphabet.

Thus, I would assume that using vowels in written Hebrew is a later
addition that helps readers recognize new words, and clears any
ambiguities created by the omission of vowels, which is something very
desirable in texts aimed towards younger readers.

Your resident language freak,

	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis
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