Column #41. Contents of this weekly column are (mostly) based on the sefer: EIM LAMIKRA HASHALEIM, by R' Nissan Sharoni, Ashdod, a guide to correct pronunciation of Hebrew, specifically in davening and Torah reading. Just received a letter from the ACADEMIYA L’LASHON HA’IVRIT confirming what we’ve already reported. Namely, that the official ACADEMIYA pronunciation of SECHVI is MIL’EIL (accent on the penultimate syllable), SECH-vi. Remember, that their decision is based upon the TROP on the word in its sole appearance in Tanach (the book of Iyov). I am confident that all roosters can now rest easy (except at daybreak) with this knowledge. Forgive me for going over recent ground, but I want to point out two different situations with SH’VA NA, both of which give the likes of us (Ashkenazim who grew up with English-flavored davening and incomplete attention to dikduk - if you know what I mean). Let’s look in the daily AMIDA. We’ll find many examples of each of these two related points, and you’ll have to pay attention when you daven and find the rest of the examples. SOMEICH NO-F’LIM. This is the first type. Under the FEI, a SH’VA NA. No matter how many times we’ve reviewed the SH’VA NA, it is still hard to break habits built over years, many of which were childhood and adolescent years. Most (at least many, many) people of a certain origin, will say NOF as the first syllable and LIM as the second one. (Let’s not even address the other problem with this word - namely, saying it MIL’EIL, which it isn’t. SO-meich NOF-lim. No and No. so-MEICH no-F’LIM. That’s it. HASHIVA SHO-F’TEINU. Again, a FEI with a SH’VA NA. It goes with the second syllable, not the first. As long as we are in this bracha, let’s see two examples of the other type. L’VADD’CHA. Here, there is a SH’VA NA under the DALET, but there is also a DAGESH CHAZAK in the DALET. So the second syllable is D’CHA, but the first syllable doesn’t lose the DALET sound. The first syllable is L’VAD and it is blended into the second syllable (as we presented in last week’s column). There’s another. Same bracha; same letter. V’TZAD- D’KEINU. The DALET sound lingers a bit on the end of the first syllable V’TZAD, but it sounds fully at the beginning of the second syllable, D’KEINU. Just remember not to separate the two DALET sounds (V’TZAD-D’KEINU), because there is only one DALET. Rather, blend them by thickening the DALET sound, V’TZADD’KEINU. In AL HATZADIKIM, we meet the SH’VAed FEI again. SO-F’REIHEM. Then a TET. HABO- T’CHIM. Not HABOT-CHIM. This makes the SH’VA a NACH, which it isn’t, and it attaches the TET to the first syllable, where it doesn’t belong. End of SH’MA KOLEINU. AMM’CHA. The MEM belongs to both syllables. And the SH’VA under it is NA. The word should not be pronounced as AM-CHA. Right before MODIM. B’SHU-V’CHA. Not B’SHUV and then CHA. As long as we’re in MODIM, let’s take a quick look at two other points to be careful about. EREV slight pause so the VET doesn’t swallow the VAV of the following word, VAVOKER. And then there is the following, which a TT reader asked me to call to people’s attention (as did Dr. JL to my attention a few years back). Towards the end of MODIM: HATOV, KI LO cha-LU, accent on the second syllable. But KI LO TA-mu, accent on the first syllable. The words almost rhyme and it easy to say them both with the same emphasis. But the words are not the same grammatically, and that accounts for the difference. <mtc> [The Ki Tavo Homepage]
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