[HANASHIR:16327] Re: the continuing "ruach" discussion

[Eric Komar <eric...>]

No offense taken, Rachel. However, as someone with an academic background in
linguistics (albeit with a focus in the Slavic languages, not Hebrew), I
have to insist that any discussion of language without comparison with your
native or other languages is useful and even preferable. Of course there is
no *letter* "w" in Hebrew, but that doesn't mean that the *sound* does not
occur in speech, even as a result of sloppy diction. That's just the nature
of human speech. English has no letter equivalent to tzadee, but that
doesn't stop the sound "ts" from occurring in the language, regardless of
spelling.
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org]On
Behalf Of rahel
  Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2003 6:32 PM
  To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
  Subject: [HANASHIR:16291] Re: the continuing "ruach" discussion


  At 01:17 PM 12/24/2003 -0500, you wrote:

    An English-language example might be a word like "serious"....


  I don't mean to offend anyone, but please think in Hebrew when speaking
(writing or reading in) Hebrew. As one who learned Hebrew as an adult, and
now speaks and teaches Hebrew, I can safely say that no-one benefits from
making comparisons to the English language. Learn the language in its own
form.

  As Ilana correctly pointed out, there is no "w" sound in Hebrew. Not even
in the word "wadi" - which is pronounced "vadi". An example of when a "w"
sound is made is when speaking Arabic - as in "wa-la" - which also includes
a gutteral sound because of the "ayin".

  And for those who think spiritually, please allow me to point out that the
word "ru-ach" is quite a high level word - meaning in the pshat: "wind", and
going down deeper paths, refers to G-d! So let's give it the proper respect
and pronounce it correctly!! <smile>

  Chag Chanukah Sameakh!

  Rahel