Sunday 14 August 2022

SimHebrew, inferring the pronunciation

Using Charles Loder's transliteration site here, I have created a comparison grid of five versions of Deuteronomy 6:4-9: Hebrew, English, SimHebrew, and two transcriptions - the first using the SBL general purpose version, the second, a custom template created on the site for SimHebrew. Transcription is always emphasizing the words and missing the music - but see below for the music.

(I have not made the music algorithm public because it is too specific to my Oracle framework, but I have specified the mapping from Hebrew to Music XML, here, here, and here.)

Notice all the final kafs (ç). And of course the repetition of you / your that corresponds. I did this exercise to try to understand more of the pronunciation of Hebrew at sight using SimHebrew as the primary transcription - since it is an isomorphic mapping - one to one onto the Hebrew consonantal text. 

The other transcriptions are not isomorphic and therefore not reversible. But anyone who 'gets' Hebrew in its fully spelled mode as used in modern Hebrew will see that SimHebrew could be as readable as any English text - but like Spanish and French, with different pronunciation rules and exceptions that the language processor in our brains will easily learn (when it's in its youth). Anyone who doesn't 'get' square script with diacritics or weird transcription schemata will come to love the transparency and reversibility of SimHebrew.

Learning such language recognition exceptions is part of my discerning and marveling at the quantum processing that goes on in the brains of God's creatures and indeed all creation.

The raised comma is a guttural (aleph), the raised y is a deeper guttural (ayin). The double ii is the English y sound. In SimHebrew, /a/ is aleph - but what vowel does it carry? In English we know how to pronounce many. Here the English /a/ carries an /e/ sound. So also the aleph sometimes carries an e sound in Hebrew. You can see some below in iwral, and in alohinuand in akdThe other guttural in Hebrew is the ayin. That too can carry different sounds. I transcribed it as a superscript /y/ to match the /’/ typically used for aleph.

Note that the /w/ is sh and sometimes s. This is another thing that speakers reading SimHebrew would just memorize as an extension to their reading skills. Hebrew letters are often the mirror image of the Latin script - consider for instance r and resh (ר). In SimHebrew, therefore, the Latin /c/ is kaf (כ) and the Latin /k/ is used for the heavy aspirate het (ח). There is a longer introduction here. But if you read what follows closely, you will see how, with practice reading out loud, you might come to need no transcription at all.

SimHebrew sometimes spells out for the reader the i, o, or u vowels. And where you don't know, just use a schwa. I see one area where there is no clue in the SimHebrew about final /a/ sounds. The hearing of final pronouns and verb forms are something learned by a speaker that has to be memorized rather than be explicit in the text. These are fortunately much more regular than English /ough/ usage (I had a thoroughly rough time up the tree, coughing while on a bough kneading dough, and I ought to have known through experience that such would lead to hiccoughs).

The grid elements are - 

1-left. the square text from the WLC, 1-right my translation, 
2-left SimHebrew, 
3-left SBL general purpose, 3-right my schema as saved from the transcription site.

Perhaps more to the need of our age, how do we teach these famous words that are an invitation to love. (My thanks to thetorah.com for this recently used phrase.) These verses are not easily heard, and were often foisted upon me 50 years ago in my brassy immaturity. Let them not be merely patterned grunts uttered by rote from a closed social structure stuck in a 19th century reaction-formation. Is it the seed's or the sower's fault if it fails to germinate and bear fruit instantly? There is indeed love in Torah and Tanach.

שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל
יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה ׀ אֶחָֽד
4 Hear Israel,
Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one.
d wmy iwral
ihvh alohinu ihvh akd



shemaʿ yisraʾel
yhwh ʾelohenu yhwh ʾekhad
shəmaʸ iisra’el
ihvh ’eloheinu ihvh ’ekad
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ אֵ֖ת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ
בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶֽךָ
5 And you will love Yahweh your God,
with all your heart and with all your being and with all your capacity.
h vahbt at ihvh alohiç
bcl-lbbç ubcl-npwç ubcl-maodç



veʾahavta ʾet yhwh ʾelohekha
bekhol-levavekha uvekhol-nafshekha uvekhol-meʾodekha
və’ahavta ’et ihvh ’eloheca
bəcol-ləvavəca uvəcol-nafshəca uvəcol-mə’odeca
וְהָי֞וּ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֧י מְצַוְּךָ֛ הַיּ֖וֹם עַל־לְבָבֶֽךָ 6 And these words which I am commanding you today will be on your heart.
v vhiu hdbrim halh awr anoci mxvvç hiom yl-lbbç

vehayu haddevarim haʾelleh ʾasher ʾanokhi metsavvekha hayyom ʿal-levavekha vəhaiu haddəvarim ha’elle ’asher ’anoci mətsavvəca haiiom ʸal-ləvaveca
וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם
בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשָׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ
7 And you will sharpen them for your children, and speak in them,
when you sit in your house, and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down, and when you arise.
z vwinntm lbniç vdibrt bm
bwbtç bbitç ublctç bdrç ubwocbç ubqumç



veshinnantam levanekha vedibbarta bam
beshivtekha bevetekha uvelekhtekha vadderekh uveshakhebekha uvequmekha
vəshinnantam ləvaneca vədibbarta bam
bəshivtəca bəveiteca uvəlectəca vadderec uvəshacəbəca uvəqumeca
וּקְשַׁרְתָּ֥ם לְא֖וֹת עַל־יָדֶ֑ךָ
וְהָי֥וּ לְטֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֶֽיךָ
8 And you will fasten them for a sign on your hand,
and they will be frontlets between your eyes.
k uqwrtm laot yl-idç
vhiu l'to'tpot bin yiniç



uqeshartam leʾot ʿal-yadekha
vehayu letotafot ben ʿenekha
uqəshartam lə’ot ʸal-iadeca
vəhaiu lətotafot bein ʸeineca
וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזוּזֹ֥ת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ ס 9 And you will write them on the posts of your house and your gates.
't uctbtm yl-mzuzot bitç ubwyriç s

ukhetavtam ʿal-mezuzot betekha uvishʿarekha s ucətavtam ʸal-məzuzot beiteca uvishʸareca

And here's the music to sing with my original transcription scheme.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 An invitation to love - to will the good of God


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