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A topic came up regarding pronuncation in a class i was recently in. The class is about leading prayers, and a question came up regarding how to pronounce certain words that have a shewa following the conversive waw, and whether or not that shewa should be a shewa na or shewa nach. People fell into two camps regarding this issue, and the Rabbi said that there are grammarians who support each view. Does anyone here know the arguments for both these sides? And which grammarians support which pronunciation?

For example וַיְחִי - some people pronounce it Waychi, and others pronounce it Wa-yechi

EDIT There is no meteg, and no dagesh in the yodh.

וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

i think the most common iteration of the conversive waw with a yodh is waw-yedaber

וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר

Aaron
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  • Is there a Meteg under the Vav? (This is similar to המבורך הלוים היהודים or other cases where the Dagesh following a definite-article's patach is dropped in a ימל. Ordinarily the Dagesh would ensure the Shva is Na' already.) – Double AA Jun 09 '15 at 17:44
  • Something tells me that the Shva Na is more correct. My thinking - the Yod is part of the verb tense, and the vav hahipuch is an addition. Thus, we want to preserve the understanding of the future tense of the verb that the vav hahipuch acts upon. I could be completely wrong about this assumption. – DanF Jun 09 '15 at 17:45
  • @DoubleAA I know that "meteg" is drawn as a vertical line under a syllable. What does it accomplish, in general, and why would that matter, here? – DanF Jun 09 '15 at 17:47
  • @DanF A meteg is a secondary accent. It would make the Patach-syllable here accented and thus no need to close it with a shva nach. – Double AA Jun 09 '15 at 18:56
  • @Double AA According to Introduction to the Tiberian Mesorah page 24 by Yeivin, it should be a Shewa Na in all cases. – Aaron Jun 09 '15 at 19:13
  • its wayhee like wayhee arav wayhee boqar – MoriDowidhYa3aqov Jun 09 '15 at 19:40
  • @Mori But i need a source, because i was taught (and have references for it being) wa-yhi erev wa-yehi boqer – Aaron Jun 09 '15 at 19:48
  • @Aaron i pronounce like teimonim and this is how we pronounce. it would be borakhu but not wayyahee unless there is a daggesh there – MoriDowidhYa3aqov Jun 09 '15 at 19:58
  • @Mori Yes but you guys use a different voweling system, i'm mizrahi but not temani, so our system is still Tiberian. And still, i would like a printed source if you're able to find one :) – Aaron Jun 09 '15 at 20:16
  • @Aaron mizrahim say borekhu instead of borakhu. asharei not ashrei like ashkanazim. i dont have anything in writing i can give you recordings of the pronunciation and they all will be this way – MoriDowidhYa3aqov Jun 09 '15 at 20:35
  • @Mori i have this recording of temanim bereishith, and it sounds to me like to goes either way? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q8g3nxgC84 – Aaron Jun 10 '15 at 17:26
  • @Aaron no we cant say that for sure. we dont know what his education level is in reading like teimonim. just because he is teimoni and reads like a teimoni doesnt mean he knows all the rules and such. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6usFaX1Yas go to 1 38 he starts – MoriDowidhYa3aqov Jun 10 '15 at 19:37
  • @Mori See the sound of that also seems to me like it could go either way. At 1:58 it sounds like he is pausing between the waw and the yodh – Aaron Jun 10 '15 at 19:46
  • @Aaron at 1 54 he clearly says wayhee and not wayahee. teimonim would say wayahee not wayehee. so if he did not put an a in between those 2 letters he says wayhee. – MoriDowidhYa3aqov Jun 10 '15 at 20:15
  • @Aaron http://www.miteiman.com/ go to the bottom where the player is with this weeks porosho and click bareisheeth or wayhee for that matter. listen to rishon. for both he says wayhee not wayahee – MoriDowidhYa3aqov Jun 10 '15 at 20:20
  • Blau points out that degemenation of the yod occurred to create the forms of these words we see today ("Phonology & Morphology of Biblical Hebrew" §3.5.11.4). So historically at least, there probably was a vocal shewa there. None of the modern Sephardi-style and Tiberian rules would indicate a shewa na` here however. Indeed, Khan transcribes וַיְהִ֫י as [vaːjˈhiː]. – Argon Jul 17 '17 at 03:51
  • The Simanim Tikkun has a shewa nach in this case. – user432944 Oct 17 '19 at 20:09

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