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My question is simple: is there an English-language book on cantillation, which includes Ta'amei Eme"t, rare trop, and their grammatical purposes ?

I've seen books on learning to lehn and recognise trop, but generally, these focus entirely on Torah, Neviyim, and Megillot. Since I'm familiar with how to read Torah and haftarot, such a book would be unnecessary in my personal library.

I'm familiar with R' Hirsch's treatment of Ta'amei Eme"t in the back of his commentary on Tehillim, but this doesn't answer all of my questions on the matter.

Noach MiFrankfurt
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  • It sounds like you need a book that just covers EM"T notes since you say you know the prose-book notes. Why are you asking for a book that "includes" it? – Double AA Dec 07 '17 at 16:17
  • @DoubleAA, no. I just don't need one which covers trop for the sole purpose of learning to lehn, as in the OP. – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 07 '17 at 16:18
  • The best resource I've seen on Taamei Emet is http://kinnor.com/Taamei_Emet/, which I from a comment somewhere on this site, I don't remember whose. One thing it's missing: the tradition that it's based on does not distinguish between conjunctives except in a few limited cases (very odd to my Ashkenazi instincts), so while I have a good sense of the heirarchy of breaks, I don't have a good feeling for which conjunctives go where, as I do in the other 21 sefarim. – Heshy Dec 07 '17 at 16:20
  • possible duplicate https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/66726/759 – Double AA Dec 07 '17 at 16:24
  • @Heshy It's from https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/30702/759 – Double AA Dec 07 '17 at 16:27
  • @noach: Is this helpful? https://books.google.co.il/books/about/A_Treatise_on_the_Accentuation_of_the_Th.html?id=YIZMAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y It’s only on Ta’amei Emet but might be what you’re looking for... (The author has a separate volume on the other 21 books.) – Joel K Dec 07 '17 at 16:28
  • The introduction to the Chumash Simanim may interest you. However it is in Hebrew, not English. – ezra Dec 07 '17 at 17:00
  • @ezra, Does it cover ta'amei eme"t ? – Noach MiFrankfurt Dec 07 '17 at 17:12
  • If you wanted to understand the structure and grammatical purpose, shouldn't you start with William Wickes? It's on WikiSource. – Kazi bácsi Dec 07 '17 at 19:21
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    Also worth noting i believe only Syrians have a kiving mesorah for how to chant Tehillim. – Aaron Dec 09 '17 at 18:59
  • @NoachMiFrankfurt The Hertz Chumash (at least my version) has the trop with accompanied musical scales/notes. – Fei23 Jul 31 '18 at 05:16
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    @Aaron Moroccan and Yemenite Jews do as well – b a Jul 31 '18 at 07:54
  • @Fei23, the trop in the Hertz Chumash are for the rest of Tana"ch and only show the niggunim (according to the melody used in Minhag Anglia communities). R' Hertz זצ"ל did not discuss their grammatical usage in his Chumash – Noach MiFrankfurt Jul 31 '18 at 16:39

2 Answers2

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There are two books written on this by William Wickes.

Here’s the Tamei emet version and it is even available online (or here). And here’s the the rest of tanach version, also online.

b a
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Dr. Shmuel
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There's The Music of the Hebrew Bible - The Western Ashkenazi Tradition by Victor Tunkel. (although he doesn't talk much about the Ta'amei 'Emes.

Joshua Pearl
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