With the mixing of tradition concerning pronunciation I would only comment that scholarly Biblical Hebrew which is different from Modern Hebrew has a different cadence and often time a more proper way to recognize the position value of any Schewa in relationship to the syllable it is ending or sounding in. I would defer to the Encyclopedia Hebraica. And HALOT for word division. Cf. Weingreen, J. A Grammar of Classical Hebrew. Nice class.
There are only two syllables in devarim and sepharim, not three. They are deva/rim and sepha/rim. The number of syllables in a Hebrew word is determined by the number of full vowels in that word. Therefore, the sheva/shewa doesn't count when it is standing alone under a consonant at the start of a word or at the start of a syllable within a word.
You're not pronouncing ר quite right, it should be more relaxed, I see it almost like an engine revving, except a lot softer. It comes from your throat. I am Israeli, you can trust me on this one.
He's just not using modern Israeli pronunciation, that's all. There are some Hebrew instructors who pronounce ר as a uvular trill, as in modern Hebrew, and others who pronounce it as an apial/tab, as in the Sephardic pronunciation of ר, like the "r" sounds of Romance languages. Additionally, most scholars of historical Hebrew linguistics teach that the classical pronunciation of ר in ancient Israel was the apial/tap rather than as a uvular trill. ר did eventually take on the uvular character around the turn of the common era in Israel, as I understand it.
That said, he doesn't distinguish well enough bayern between ה and ח in this video, which does drive me a little crazy, lol. (Also, he misspelled דבר on his first slide by writing קמץ and פתח, rather than a double קמץ.)
With the mixing of tradition concerning pronunciation I would only comment that scholarly Biblical Hebrew which is different from Modern Hebrew has a different cadence and often time a more proper way to recognize the position value of any Schewa in relationship to the syllable it is ending or sounding in. I would defer to the Encyclopedia Hebraica. And HALOT for word division. Cf. Weingreen, J. A Grammar of Classical Hebrew. Nice class.
Dr. Earlmont: is there a firm rule: a vocal sewa can only occur in an open syllable?
There are only two syllables in devarim and sepharim, not three. They are deva/rim and sepha/rim. The number of syllables in a Hebrew word is determined by the number of full vowels in that word. Therefore, the sheva/shewa doesn't count when it is standing alone under a consonant at the start of a word or at the start of a syllable within a word.
Yes, I would like to know the answer to this?
You're not pronouncing ר quite right, it should be more relaxed, I see it almost like an engine revving, except a lot softer. It comes from your throat.
I am Israeli, you can trust me on this one.
He's just not using modern Israeli pronunciation, that's all. There are some Hebrew instructors who pronounce ר as a uvular trill, as in modern Hebrew, and others who pronounce it as an apial/tab, as in the Sephardic pronunciation of ר, like the "r" sounds of Romance languages. Additionally, most scholars of historical Hebrew linguistics teach that the classical pronunciation of ר in ancient Israel was the apial/tap rather than as a uvular trill. ר did eventually take on the uvular character around the turn of the common era in Israel, as I understand it.
That said, he doesn't distinguish well enough bayern between ה and ח in this video, which does drive me a little crazy, lol. (Also, he misspelled דבר on his first slide by writing קמץ and פתח, rather than a double קמץ.)