[HANASHIR:16239] RE: just so we're clear on the matter...

[Eric Komar <eric...>]

Point taken, Hazzan. The "malei" thing is the key. However, I don't know if
I'd consider ruach and eloah instances of diphthongs either for this reason:
Diphthongs are normally when 2 vowel sounds occur within 1 syllable. The
double vowels rUAch and elOAh are occurring in 2 syllables - 1 vowel in
each. (If you're referring to the "w" sound that incidentally occurs in
between those vowels, some might argue these are instances of diphthongs.)
Erik is right though - Israeli vowel phonetics are much purer than English.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of erik contzius
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 6:35 AM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:16238] just so we're clear on the matter...


although Eric Komar's posting was "mostly" correct
regarding transliteration, the tzeirei is technically
NOT a dipthong. Tzeirei Malei (Tzeirei followed by a
yud) is a dipthong, but tzeirei by itself is the long
form of segol (the eh sound). Imagine the "ei" sound
(as in "weigh") and before getting to the "ee" sound
at the end of the dipthong, you stop.


The only dipthongs that occur in
Hebrew involve the malei form (vowel followed by a
yud) or two apparent vowels together (vowel followed
by patakh ganuv, like in "Eloah" or "Ruakh").