Ebbe E. Knudsen, Classical Syriac
Phonology
Emmanuel
Aïm
Tel Aviv
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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James E. Walters
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2020
Volume 23.1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/review/hv23n1praim
Emmanuel Aïm
Ebbe E. Knudsen, Classical Syriac
Phonology
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol23/HV23N1PRAim.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2020
vol 23
issue 1
pp 193–197
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
File created by James Walters
Ebbe E. Knudsen, Classical Syriac
Phonology, Perspectives on Linguistics and Ancient Languages 7 (Gorgias
Press: Piscataway, NJ, 2015). Pp. iv + 204; $134.
Emmanuel Aïm, Tel Aviv
Despite its modest size, the book under review is a major and unprecedented
contribution to Syriac studies. It is indeed, as far as this reviewer knows, the
first monograph dedicated entirely to the phonology of Classical Syriac. The
most detailed descriptions, contained in the grammars of Duval and Nöldeke, were
written more than a century ago, and only that of Duval is truly exhaustive.
(Oddly, Duval’s grammar is not listed in Knudsen’s bibliography). The monographs
previously published by scholars such as T. Weiss and J. Segal covered only
selected aspects of the phonological system. Consequently, the publication of
this monograph amends this regrettable state of affairs, and author and
publisher should be commended for this long-overdue piece of scholarship.
The book’s layout is trim and elegant. The Syriac fonts, especially the East
Syriac and the vowels of Jacob of Edessa, are neat and clean-cut, which makes
reading the Syriac particularly pleasant. The book is intended for scholars who
are already familiar with the Syriac scripts since transliterations are given
only occasionally.
The book contains eight chapters: preliminaries, features of Early Syriac, two
chapters on consonants (consonants, assimilation and dissimilation of
consonants), three chapters on vowels (vowels, the auxiliary vowel, vowels and
vowel quantity) and one last chapter on stress. Each chapter ends with a useful
summary of the main arguments and findings. There are also two appendices on
which I shall elaborate below.
The study follows the methods of historical and structural linguistics. Syriac
is compared to Old Aramaic (Aramaic cuneiform incantations from Uruk, Imperial
and Official Aramaic), to more or less contemporaneous Aramaic dialects
(Palestinian and Babylonian Jewish Aramaic, the Tiberian tradition of Biblical
Aramaic), modern Aramaic (Turoyo), as well as more or less contemporaneous forms
of Biblical Hebrew (Tiberian Hebrew, Origen’s transcriptions). Attempts to date
the various sound changes (spirantization, vowel syncope, change in vowel
quality, etc.) are constant. The author always attempts to distinguish the
different phases of Syriac (Early Syriac, Early Classical Syriac, West and East
Late Classical Syriac). From this point of view, the chapter on the features of
Early Syriac is particularly welcome and informative.
The strength of Knudsen’s study lies, foremost, in its text-oriented approach.
In addition to dictionaries, vocalized biblical texts (both manuscripts and
printed editions) are systematically employed in the compilation of data. These
sources are always clearly distinguished from one another and used to describe
with precision the different phases of Syriac and the different textual
traditions. (This method calls to mind that of Segal’s The
Diacritical Points and Accents in Syriac.) Certainly, there is little
originality in the matters investigated: spirantization of the bdgkpt, quality and quantity of the vowels, the auxiliary vowel, etc.,
are the traditional issues of Syriac phonology. However, Knudsen’s approach
leads to a much finer and more structured description of these processes and
their sub-dialectal and textual variants.
The second strength of the book is the constant reference to the works of
medieval Syriac grammarians, mostly Bar Hebraeus and Jacob of Edessa, who
discuss phonological phenomena not expressed in orthography. It is only to be
regretted that the author did not have the possibility (cf. p. 18, note 2) to
include data from important eastern grammarians such as John Bar Zoʿbi.
The third strength is that phonological rules are always illustrated with
copious examples. This is especially true for the fourth chapter on assimilation
and dissimilation between consonants: all the distinct cases are presented one
by one and illustrated by one or more examples, which makes this chapter the
most comprehensive presentation of this subject so far. Also noteworthy are the
sections on the vowels of Jacob of Edessa (pp. 92-99), the e-vowel symbols in eastern orthography (pp. 103-114), the discussion
of ẹ vs. e in Early Syriac (pp.116-133), with eight pages
of examples and many observations on the adaptation of Greek sounds which are
particularly precise and insightful.
The book includes two appendices. The first one deals with the traditional
pronunciation of Syriac among the Syriac Orthodox. One would have also
appreciated information on other traditions, such as Maronite and Assyrian,
especially since there is already an article on the Chaldean pronunciation that
the author could have used (Hoberman 1997). The second appendix is an
interesting sketch of Turoyo phonology. Its inclusion is justified since ancient
Aramaic and Turoyo are referenced throughout the book, and since most potential
readers probably have a better knowledge of the ancient dialects of Aramaic than
of Turoyo.
Here and there, I find myself in disagreement with Knudsen’s opinions, but will
limit myself here to some general comments.
First, many phonological processes (regular or occasional) are passed over,
e.g., e > a before r and
guttural, aphaeresis of gutturals other than ʿålaf, e > i before yy and sibilant in
West Syriac, ū > ō before n,
r, and guttural in East Syriac. The fact that the
auxiliary vowel in West Syriac apparently never triggers the spirantization of a
following bdgkpt is not mentioned and should have been
explained or even, if necessary, thoroughly documented in vocalized texts, as
the author did for the auxiliary vowel in East Syriac. Oddly, the evolution of
consonants from proto-Semitic to Syriac is presented, but not that of vowels.
Although the development of vowels is possibly more complex, this is not a
reason to ignore it completely. Finally, diphthongs, phonotactics, and syllable
structure are not presented although they are basic components of any
phonological description. (Syllables are employed only occasionally when
describing the distribution between long and short vowels and the syncope of
short vowels.)
Second, investigations devoted exclusively to Syriac phonology are rare. It is
therefore regrettable that the author has not used, or has not been able to
access, some relevant studies, such as Bohas 1988 (on syncope and
spirantization), Bohas 1990 (on the shift of proto-Semitic *d̮ to Syriac ʿ and its effect on root
structure), Bohas 1999 (on the auxiliary vowel in East Syriac), Edzard 2001 (on
syncope and spirantization), Bohas 2005 (on the treatment of the bdgkpt by John Bar Zoʿbi). Although most of these works
are rather technical and theoretically oriented, specialists would certainly
have appreciated to know from the author if his own conclusions support, refine,
or contradict these preceding studies.
Third, as in other Semitic languages, many sound changes in Syriac are
conditioned both phonologically and morphologically, e.g., a
> e before two consonants in the Pʿal verbal stem and in some Paʿlå nouns,
monophthongization of the diphthongs in a closed syllable of masculine CvCC
nouns, assimilation of n in I-n roots, w~y interchanges in weak roots, sandhi rules of spirantization and
vocalization of the bdwl particles. By treating in most
of the cases only phonology stricto sensu, the author
deprives the reader of the descriptions of various and extremely common
alternations. To be fair, Knudsen’s book does not aim to be a Classical Syriac Morphophonemics. Thus, the grammars of Duval and
Nöldeke will still remain indispensable for their coverage of all the Syriac
sound patterns. Finally, there is unfortunately no index.
Despite these minor reservations, the book is an excellent, and the only, update
of the body of knowledge on the matters treated. The demonstrations are
convincing, the examples abundant, the whole very well structured. By using a
text-based approach, Knudsen places his study on scientifically sound footing.
The absence of theoretically oriented analyses makes the book accessible to all
Syriacisists and Aramaists. Consequently, Classical Syriac
Phonology will be an indispensable working tool for those specializing
in Syriac and Aramaic phonology and linguistics, as well as for those concerned
more broadly with Semitic phonology and philology.
Bibliography
Bohas, G. “Quelques processus phonologiques en syriaque.” Langues orientales anciennes, philologie et linguistique
1 (1988), 17–31.
Bohas, G. “A Diachronic Effect of the OCP.”
Linguistic Inquiry 21 (1990), 298–301.
Bohas, G. “La logique du signe vocalisateur mhagyānā et du signe accélérateur mar
ṭānā dans la phonologie du syriaque: une approche de la structure
syllabique.” Bulletin d’Études Orientales
51 (1999), 127–149.
Bohas, G. Les bgdkpt selon Bar Zoʿbi. Toulouse: Editions Amam-Cemaa, 2005.
Edzard, L. “Problems with Post-Vocalic Spirantization in Syriac: Cyclic Rule
Ordering vs. Early Phonemization with Paradig-matic Levelling.” JSS 46 (2001), 77–95.
Hoberman, R. “The Modern Chaldean Pronunciation of Classical Syriac.” In
Humanism, Culture, and Language in the Near East:
Studies in Honor of Georg Krotkoff, ed. A. Afsaruddin and A.
Zahniser, 253–265. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1997.