Joshua C. Sherrill

Of the 101 linguistic developments analyzed in the NWS branches of Iron Age II, Randall Garr lists a combination of 32 as identifying the Hebrew dialect. He forewarns, “No two linguistic features have the identical distribution among these [NWS] dialects” (2004: 205, 225–35). While sharp borders do not exist (hence Garr’s use of dialect instead of language), there are yet features that can be identified as more uniquely Hebrew. I summarize Garr’s list in order, alongside a few others, and attempt to highlight the most important. I was helped by Brian Donnelly-Lewis’s article on the Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon (ca. 11–10th c. BC).

Table 1: Compilation

Garr (2004)				Hornkohl (2019)	Bekins (2020)
#	Analogical Formations	Independent Developments	Shared Innovations
1	1cs indep. pron. אני			forthc.	אני (cf. Aram. *ʾanā̆)
2	mpa/mda -ם
3	Connecting vowel *ay (or ê) on fp suffixed nouns (בְּנֹותֵיכֶם, בְּנֹותַיִךְ)
4	1cp poss. suff. -נו
5	1cs perf. ending [tī]
6	3fp impf. *ת- -נה
7		assim. of nun to the following consonant (except in ל״ן verbs)			assim. of n to a following consonant (*nC > CC) was regular in all NWS
8		absorption of syllable-closing aleph into the preceding vowel (quiescence)			deletion of syllable-final ʾ (*Cvʾ > Cv̄) is attested across Old NWS
9		correspondence *át:[ā́] and *at:[ā]
10		loss of final short vowels
11		fs dem. Pron. זאת “this” (unless inherited)
12		merger of indic. and juss. verbal forms in 2/3-p
13		merger of middle weak D-stem and the pōlel (?)
14			merger of *ḏ̣ and *ṣ, *ḏ and *z, *ṯ̣ and *ṣ, and *ṯ and *š
15			correspondence *ā́:[ṓ] and *áʾ:[ṓ] (in doubly closed syllables)
16			tonic lengthening of nonverbal short vowels
17			syncope of intervocalic he in 3-p suffixes (conditioned) and in the causative impf.		deletion of intervocalic h (*v1hv2 > v2) occurred frequently within the Canaanite group but not in Aramaic
18			ms dem. Pron. זה “this” (?)
19			relative part. אשר		relative word אשר (*ʾašar)
20			personal interrog. pron. מי
21			definite article he
22			mpc ending *ay
23			3ms suffix on pl. nouns [āw]
24			form of the nota accusativi *אית > את		phonologically reduced form of the object marker את (*ʾat and *ʾāt < *ʾiyyāt)
25			vocalization of the strong qal infc. [liqṭol]
26			impf. of *ישב “to sit, dwell” and *ידע “to know” as [yēšeb], etc.
27			ending of initial and final weak infc. in -ת
28			replacement of *banay- by *baniy- in 1cs qal perf.
29			use of monosyllabic base *bā̆n- in forming certain final weak verbal forms
30			apocopation of final syllable in certain forms of final-weak juss. and consec. impf.		apocopation of III-w/y roots in the Wayyiqtol
31			impf. and impv. of הלך “to go” formed from root ולך
32			impf. form [yiqqaḥ]

Table 2: Highlights

At Proto-NWS
Initial w > y (except conj. wa-)
Assimilation of n (*nC > *CC)
Doubly marked plurals of *qVṭl nouns (*malkum > malakūna)
Imperative negation ˀal
At Proto-Canaanite
Genetic (common)		Contact (in degrees)
D-stem *qaṭṭila > *qiṭṭila and C-stem *haqṭila > *hiqṭila		Canaanite shift (*ā > *ō)
1cp pron. sfx. *-na > *-nu (generalization of sfx. conj. *-na)		*ʾanāku > *ʾanōkī (Canaanite shift + -u > -ī dissimilation after ō)
1cs sfx. conj. -tu > -tī		Relative particles derived from grammaticalized *ʾaṯar- “place”
Distinction between infc. and infa. in the G stem		Prefixed definite article *han- (cf. BH הַסּסס)
At Hebrew
1cs pron. ʾanī (alongside ʾanōkī)			אֲנִי
Connecting vowel *ay on fp suffixed nouns (-ōt-ay > -ôtê- vs. other Canaanite -ōt-)			בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם
fs dem. pron. *ḏā̆ > zōʾt (only attested in Hebrew and Moabite among Canaanite and in non-Canaanite)			זֹאת
fs noun abs. *-át > *á (> *-ā; only attested in Hebrew among Canaanite and in non-Canaanite) (Donnelly-Lewis 2022)			דב (> דִּבָּה)

Bibliography

• Bekins, Peter. 2020. Inscriptions from the World of the Bible: A Reader and Introductio to Old Northwest Semitic. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
• Donnelly-Lewis, Brian. 2022. “The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon: A New Collation Based on the Multispectral Images, with Translation and Commentary.” BASOR 388: 181–210.
• Garr, W. Randall. 2004. Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine: 1000–586 B.C.E. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985. Repr., Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
• Reymond, Eric D. 2018. Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar: A Student’s Guide to Phonology and Morphology. Atlanta: SBL Press.