Column #100. 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. Last week we looked at RA-M'SEIS and RA-AMSEIS and our prediction was correct: Only a few people (that I spoke to) knew there was a difference. Most people said - I never noticed that before. And many, I am sure, didn't and wouldn't get excited about it. He's another... similar but quite different... word. Nothing to
do with davening or Torah reading, but it came up in looking through the book
and sheets of HaAkademiya LaLashon HaIvrit for this week's micro-Ulpan feature
(see elsewhere in this issue). I was shocked. So were some other people I put it
to. Some were not at all under any impression other than the correct one. The correct word is N'YAR, not NIYAR. SH'VA, not CHIRIK. Personally, I was in shock. I would have bet and lost on the CHIRIK. Only you know which you were. You don't have to tell anyone. But you might want to take your own survey. On another note, take a look at the spelling of this week's sedra in English. Just look at the footer of this page. VAI-CHI. That's different from the way we used to spelling (Vay'chi or something like that). It's like the obsession with spelling a different sedra TO-L'DOT, rather than TOLDOT. Or SHO-F'TIM, rather than SHOFTIM. Always to make a point and reinforce something we've learned (hopefully) from this column. The first YUD of VAI-CHI belongs to the first syllable
exclusively. It is voweled with a SH'VA NACH and closes off the first syllable
as VAI. The YUD does not have a consonant-Y sound. Just a vowel sound as part of
the diphthong AI, or the long I as in FIGHT or KITE. The second syllable is CHI.
It's a little hard to say correctly after years of saying VA-Y'CHI. Not so for the next pasuk with its VA-YIKR'VU, VA-YIKRA, and VA-YOMER.
Actually, each of those should be sounded as VAI-YIKR'VU, VAI-YIKRA, and
VAI-YOMER, because of the DAGESH CHAZAK in the YUD. The YUD then really belongs
to both the first and second syllables. In the first syllable, it alters the
sound of the PATACHunder the VAV. Freom VA to VAI. In the second syllable, it is
like the consonant that Y is sometimes. The Y of YELLOW, as opposed to the
vowel-Y or BOY or CYCLE. Got it? 2 Depends where you look. EIM LAMIKRA HASHALEIM says that Chumashim differ and that the different vowels go back a while in time to earlier disputes on the same issue. No difference in meaning, but interesting, nonetheless. 2 Here's a good one, because it isn't just in B'reishit 48:20 - it is in a father's blessing for his sons. May G-d make you like Efrayim and Menashe. Technically, there are two syllables to the word. Y'SI and M'CHA. (Remember that a letter with a SH'VA NA does not make its own syllable, but is attached - Letter and SH'VA- to the following syllable.) It really should be Y'SIM and CHA, because a CHIRIK (under the SIN) without a YUD after it is a short vowel - CHIRIK CHASEIR - and would ordinarily draw the MEM with a SH'VA to it, to com- plete the syllable. And in that case, the SH'VA under the MEM would be NACH. Y'SIM-CHA. However, theCHIRIK in this case, under the SIN, should have been followed by a YUD, the CHIRIK would be MALEI and a long vowel. In lieu of the YUD, the SIN is marked with a METEG, which identifies the CHIRIK as a long vowel even without the YUD. So the word is Y'SI and then M'CHA, with the SH'VA under the MEM being a NA rather than NACH. Again, it doesn't make a difference in the meaning of the word, but it's nice to fine-tune our pronunciation. Next time you bless your son (or grandson or son-in-law) try Y'SI-M'CHA. [The Parshat Vai-chi Homepage]
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