A PHONEMIC ANALYSIS OF NEPHITE AND JAREDITE PROPER NAMES

 By John A.Tvedtnes, MA, graduate student in Semitic linguistics and archaeology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

 

Pres­ented at the Twenty-second Annual Symposium on the Archaeology of the Scriptures and Allied Fields, held at Brigham Young University on October 28, 1973.

 

Editorial Note. The author of this paper explores the fasci­nating subject of the names of persons and places found in the Book of Mormon. He accepts the many indications that the principal tongue of the Lehite-Mulekite peoples of the Book of Mormon was essentially Hebrew, and that the names of persons and places recorded therein are therefore mostly in that lan­guage. Tvedtnes also proposes that the proper names of the Jaredites as recorded in the Book of Mormon were drawn from the Akkadian and Sumerian languages, confirming the Mesopo­tamian origin of that earlier people. The reader will notice that Joseph Smith, the professed discoverer and translator of the Nephite record in the 1820s, could not possibly have had knowl­edge of those extinct Mesopotamian languages (they did not be­come known to scholars until after the decipPserment of the an­cient cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia in the mid-nineteenth century).

 

This is a rather technical paper in the field of Near Eastern linguistics and for this reason a glossary has been added. But it also has an important connection with the Americanist field of Book of Mormon studies, especially for Latter-day Saints who wish to pursue linguistic studies in preparation for the day of full understanding of the ancient hieroglyphic writings of the Book of Mormon area of Mesoamerica. RRC.

 

IN AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon” (Brigham Young University Stud­ies, Autumn, 1970), I presented evidence to support the view that a partly Hebraic structure character­izes the present English text of the Book of Mor­mon. In so doing, I also observed that the trans­lation of the indicated original Hebrew text by the prophet Joseph Smith was quite literal, considering the syntactic differences between Hebrew and Eng­lish.

 

It follows that, if the Prophet in his translation followed so closely the syntax of the indicated orig­inal Hebrew text, he would also have made an at­tempt to transliterate directly the proper names in Mormon’s record. That this was the case is evi­denced by the testimony of David Whitmer and Emma Smith to the effect that whenever Joseph came to proper names he spelled them out for his scribe (Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, 1952, p. 32). Note, however, that some names were actually translated into English. “Red Sea” and “Alpha and Omega”—the latter a Greek term—have taken on their biblical forms, while the place-names Bounti­ful and Desolation were apparently translated in order to better describe why the regions were so named.

 

For some time I have been interested in the possible meanings of the non-biblical proper names in the Book of Mormon. Dr. Hugh Nibley began an investigation of this subject in his Lehi in the Desert (see esp. pp. 27-30), wherein he listed some of these names and correlated them with proper names known from the Old World but not the Bible. A colleague of mine, Robert F. Smith, has expanded upon this work by beginning a detailed comparison of Book of Mormon proper names with Hebrew, Egyptian, Akkadian, Sumerian, etc., in or­der to determine their possible meain5gs. It was while reviewing some of his hand-written notes, left noted that the difference between the Jaredite and Nephite phonemic systems was even greater than I had supposed. How was this possible, since both were taken from the Nephite abridgement, which, being written in but one writing system, could not accurately have illustrated two separate sound sys­tems? (Nor, of course, can the English trans­literation; hence, I have really analyzed a faulty transliteration that may not show all phonemes in the two systems under consideration.)

 

One would expect that Moroni, when trans­literating Jaredite proper names in his abridgement of the Book of Ether, would have approximated their sounds to sounds already found in his own language. Actually, the answer was obvious: it had to do with Joseph Smith’s transliteration and not Moroni’s. The Prophet, we must recall, used a di­vine instrument (the Urim and Thummim) to trans­late the Book of Mormon. Certainly this instrument would have been capable of transliterating the Jare­dite names, for they were in their original form in Ether, rather than in their Nephite form as adapted by Moroni.

 

BIBLICAL NAMES

 

There were some important decisions to be made before beginning the analysis. These had to do with the biblical names occurring in the Book of Mormon. Should they be included in the analysis, or not? Obviously, if they were names used by the Book of Mormon peoples in reference to persons and places in their new-found homeland, it would be best to include them. Therefore, I decided to re­tain biblical names actually used as Nephite or Jaredite names, while eliminating from the list all names referring to characters or places named in tern used by Joseph Smith was very similar to that used by the translators of the King James Bible, with a few noteworthy exceptions that will be ap­parent to anyone reading the lists of names.

 

Another question to be resolved was that of non-Nephite names in the Nephite period. What of the Lamanite, Lemuelite, Zoramite, Ishmaelite, and Mulekite names found in the text? Actually, these were so few in number that a separate analysis would have been futile. Moreover, after I included them in the list of Nephite names, I found that they did not change the results of my analysis. This, of course, was sufficient evidence of the relatedness of all these peoples in their languages—a fact to be expected, since all of them came from the Jerusa­lem region.

 

However, a few obvious Jaredite names occur among the Nephite-Mulekite peoples. Dr. Nibley has pointed out that in many instances the Mule-kites (for such they seem to have been) bearing these Jaredite names were the rebel leaders in the Nephite land, and that they carried on the “secret combinations” which had been known to the Jare­dites (ibid., pp. 238-248). It is obvious that Jaredites of whom we have no record must have inter­married with the Mulekites (probably before the latter merged with the Nephites), preserving both Jaredite names and Jaredite customs. In regard to the Jaredite names used in Nephite times, I decided to retain them and to take them into account only if they happened to be the sole evidence for specif­ic phonemes otherwise unattested in the Nephite language. Moreover, deleting them would have in­volved a subjective judgment regarding which of these names were Jaredite, since some of them are not actually attested in the Jaredite record (see be-low).

 

WHAT DID THE STUDY PRODUCE?

With this background to the procedure used, let us now examine the results. In order to provide a base for further study by other scholars, I will include the name lists I used in the analysis. (Note that not all these names appear in the index or pronouncing guide of the Book of Mormon, and some are misspelled in those lists.) In both the Nephite and Jaredite lists. I have deleted the generic names ending with –ite. (B) after the name means that this form occurs in the bible.

 

JAREDITE NAMES

 

 

1.Aaron (B)

2. Ablom

3. Agosh

4. Ahah

5. Akish

6. Amgid

7. Amnigaddah

8. Cohor

9. Corn

10. Cornnor

11. Coriantor

12. Coriantum

13. Coriantumr

14. Corihor

15. Cororn’

16. Cumon

17. Curelom

18. Deseret

19. Emer

20. Ephraim (B)

21. Esrom (B)

22. Ethem

23. Ether (B)

24. Gilead (B)

25. Gilgah

26. Gilgal (B)

27. Heathom

28. Heshlon

29. Heth (B)

30. Jacom

31. Jared (B)

32. Kib

33. Kim

34. Kimnor

35. Kish (B)

36. Levi (B)

37. Lib

38. Mahah

39. Mahonri Moriancumr **

40. Moriancurner

41. Morianton

42. Moron

43. Nehor

44. Nimrah (B)

45. Nimrod (B)

46. Noah (B)

47. Ogath

48. Omer (B)

49. Orihah

50. Pagag

51. Ramah (B)

52. Riplakish

53. Ripliancurn

54. Seth (B)

55. Shared

56. Shelern

57. Shez

58. Shiblon

59. Shim

60. Shiz

61. Shule

62. Shurr

63. Zerin

 

 

*Appears as Comm in one place in the RLDS version.

**“Called the “brother of Jared’ in the Book of Mormon.

 

His name was given by revelation to Joseph Smith (see Alma P. Burton, Discourses of Joseph Smith, 1956, pp. 181, 206. See also G Reynolds, “The Jaredites,” Juvenile Instructor 27:282 and Improvement Era 8:705.)

 

There are but few problems with the Jaredite names. One, however, regards the place-names. We must recall that Moroni rewrote the Book of Ether in an abridged form. It is possible, therefore, that whenever he discussed names of places known to both his people and the Jaredites (this would ex­clude Jaredite place-names from the Old World), he used the Nephite name, rather than the Jaredite. In two instances only does he say a place was so “called by the Nephites” (Ether 7:6; 9:31) On two other occasions he refers to “a place which was called______,” without telling which people had so named it (Ether 9:3; 15:10).

 

In a few instances the Jaredite name is clearly being used; Akish, Corihor, Heth, Moriancumer, Moron, and Nimrod, applied both to places and to Jaredite men. In other instances Moroni gives the C. Reynolds, “The Jaredites,” Juvenile Instructor 27:282 and Im­provement Era 8:705.) Jaredite name and then tells us what it means (see Ether 2:3; S:1; 15:8), while on one occasion he cites what appear to be two Jaredite animal names, which he may have been unable to translate into his own language (Ether 9:19). While both the Jare­dites and the Nephites used Shim for the name of a hill (see Ether 9:3; Mormon 1:3), the hill in which Mormon hid the records is called Ramah in Ether (15:11), while Mormon calls it Cumorah (Mormon 6:6). The Jaredite place-name Nehor (Ether 7:4) ap­pears as the name of a Nephite man (Alma 1:15), as does the name Gilgal (see Ether 13:27; Mormon 6:14; 3 Nephi 9:6); and it is unclear whether the Nephites adopted the Jaredite name or whether Moroni is giving the Nephite place-name in these instances. In any case, Gilgal, being Hebrew, might be unexpected in the Jaredite record; the same is true of the Jaredite hill Ephraim (Ether 7:9). This leaves us with the problem of two other biblical names given to Jaredite kings, Levi (Ether 1:20; see also 3 Nephi 24:3) and Noah (Ether 7:14; see also Mosiah 7:9).

 

Because I was unable to decide which of these names are truly Jaredite, I felt it best to include them in the analysis. Hence, by determining the en­vironments of each of the consonants and vowels in the Jaredite proper names (including place-names, some of which may be Nephite), I inferred the fol­lowing phonemic pattern:

 

JAREDITE PHONEMES

 

STOPS: p t k b d g

 

FRICATIVES: s s h z

 

RESONANTS: m n r l

 

VOWELS: I u e o a

 

Allophones are as follows: /k/ has allophones [k], which occurs before hi (Nos. 32, 33, 34, 35, 5, 52), and [c], which occurs before /0/ and ml (Nos.8 through 17, 30, 39, 40, 53); lu has allophones [j], which occurs initially (Nos. 30, 31), as in the trans­literation of biblical names (i.e., [y~), and [ii, which occurs elsewhere. It is noteworthy that /u/ occurs only before the resonants (Nos. 12, 13, 16, 17, 39, 40, 53, 61, 62). However, because the other vowels also occur before resonants, phonemic status must be accorded to /u/.

 

Note that the ph combination occurs only in No. 20, Ephraim, which here appears in its biblical form. Since this is the name of a hill, Moroni may be giving the Nephite name. On the other hand, the biblical name Levi also occurs as No. 36, the name of a Jaredite king. It is probable that Joseph Smith merely gave the King James form to these two names, and hence we may discount them in our analysis. However, it is possible that ph and v are, respectively, fricative allophones of the stops /p/ and /b/, occurring after he!. It is also possible that /v/ is an allophone of /u/, occurring inter-vocalically. I have chosen to delete them, however.

 

The one problem with which I have not dealt above is the occurrence of th in the Jaredite names. It, too, occurs in Jaredite names that also happen to be found in the Bible (No. 54, Seth, and No. 29, Heth). It may be that, as in Hebrew, th is an allophone of /t/, occurring after vowels (see Nos. 22, 23, 47). However, in No. 27, it occurs after a con­sonant In; hence it may be the phoneme /t!, fol­lowed by /h/, rather than a fricative. Or, since it occurs after the resonant In, it may be that the fricative allophone occurs both after resonants and after vowels, while the stop allophone occurs else­where. The problem is further complicated by the occurrence of a final /t! after a vowel in No. 18, deseret. It is possible that this latter is a different kind of a /t/ (such as the toy vs. the teth in He­brew), which cannot be transliterated accurately in English. There are, therefore, several possibilities, but the data are insufficient to justify a more pre­cise judgment on the matter.

 

NEPHITE PROPER NAMES

 

We come now to an examination of the Neph­ite proper names. Some of these, being biblical, are marked (B). Others are clearly Jaredite, and some suspected Jaredite names. These are marked (J). As mentioned, we have assumed that the Nephite, Lamanite, Mulekite, etc., phonological systems were the same. They may have all spoken the same language, at least after the time of Mosiah I. We read that this Mosiah and his Nephite followers were unable to communicate with the Mulekites when they first met them, and that the Mulekites were taught the Nephite language (Omni 17-18). We likewise read of a later time when “the lan­guage of Nephi began to be taught among all the people of the Lamanites” (Mosiah 24:4). In the lat­ter instance, it is not clear whether this involved only the Nephite writing system, the Nephite speech, or both. In any case, the results would not be changed were the Lamanite names deleted from our list.

 

NEPHITE NAMES

 

 

1. Aaron (B) (J)

2. Abinadi

3. Abinadom

4. Abish

5. Aha

6. Alma

7. Amalaki

8. Amalickiah

9. Amaron (J)

10. Aminadab (B)

11. Aminadi

12. Amlici

13. Ammah

14. Ammaron (J)

15. Ammon (B)

16. Ammonihah

17. Ammoron (J)

18. Amnihu (J?)

19. Amnor (J?)

20. Amoron (J)

21. Amos (B)

22. Amulek

23. Amulon

24. Angola

25. Ani-Anti

26. Anti-Nephi-Lehi

27. Antiomno

28. Antion

29. Antionah

30. Antionum

31. Antipara

32. Antipas (B)

33. Antipus

34. Antum (J?)

35. Archaeantus

36. Benjamin (B)

37. Boaz (B)

38. Camenihah (J) RLDS: Cumenihah

39. Cezoram

40. Chemish

41. Corianton (J)

42. Coriantumr (J)

43. Cumeni (J)

44. Cumorah (J?)

45. David (B)

46. Emron (J?)

47. Enos (B)

48. Ezias (cf. D&C 84:12-13)

49. Ezrom

50. Gad (B)

51. Gadiandi (J?)

52. Gadianton (J)

53. Gadiomnah (J?)

54. Gazelem (cf. D&C 78:9)

55. Gid

56. Giddianhi (J?)

57. Giddonah

58. Gideon (B)

59. Gidgiddonah

60. Gidgiddoni

61. Gilgal (B) (J?)

62. Gimgimno

63. Hagoth

64. Helam (B)

65. Helaman

66. Helem (B)

67. Helorum

68. Hem

69. Hermounts

70. Himni

71. Irreantum

72. Isabel

73. Isaiah (B)

74. Ishmael (B)

75. Jacob (B)

76. Jacobugath

77. Jarom

78. Jashon

79. Jeremiah (B)

80. Jershon

81. Jerusalem (B)

82. Jonas (B)

83. Joneam RLDS: Jeneum

84. Jordan (B)

85. Joseph (B)

86. Josh

87. Joshua (B)

88. Judea (B)

89. Kishkumen (J)

90. Korihor (J)

91. Kumen (J)

92. Kumenonhi (J)

93. Laban (B)

94. Lachoneus

95. Lamah

RLDS: Lama

96. Laman

97. Lamoni

98. Leah (B)

99. Lehi (B)

100. Lehi-Nephi

101. Lehonti

102. Lemuel (B)

103. Liahona

104. Limhah

105. Limber

106. Limhi

107. Limnah

108. Luram

109. Manti

110. Mathoni

111. Mathonihah

112. Melek

113. Middoni

114. Midian (B)

115. Minon

116. Mocum (J?)

117. Morianton (J)

118. Moriantum (J)

119. Mormon (J?)

120. Moroni (J)

121. Moronihah

122. Mosiah

123. Mulek RLDS:

sometimes, Mulok

124. Muloki

125. Nahom

126. Neas

127. Nehor (J?)

128. Nephi

129. Nephihah

130. Neum

131. Noah (B)

132. Omner

133. Omni

134. Onidah

135. Onihah

136. Onti

137. Paanchi

138. Pachus

139. Pacumeni (J)

140. Pahoran

141. Rabbanah

142. Rameumptum

143. Riplah (J?)

144. Sam

145. Samuel (B)

146. Sariah

147. Seantum

148. Sebus

149. Seezoram

150. Senine

151. Senum

152. Seon

153. Shazar

154. Shem (B)

155. Shemlon (J?)

156. Shemnon (J?)

157. Sherem

158. Sherrizah

159. Sheum

160. Shiblom (J?)

161. Shiblon (J)

162. Shiblum (J?)

163. Shilom

164. Shim (J?)

165. Shimnilom (J?)

166. Shum

167. Sidom

168. Sidon (B)

169. Siron

170. Teancum (J?)

171. Teomner

172. Timothy (B)

173. Tubaloth

174. Zarahemla

175. Zedekiah (B)

176. Zeezrom

177. Zemnarihah

178. Zenephi

179. Zeniff

180. Zenock

181. Zenos

182. Zerahemnah

183. Zeram

184. ziff

185. Zion (B)

186. Zoram

 

 

*Nephi does not occur in the Bible, but it does occur in the Apocrypha (2 Maccabees 1:36).

 

NEPHITE PHONEMES

 

STOPS: p t k c(q) b d g

 

FRICATIVES: s s x(ch) h z

 

RESONANTS: m n r l

 

VOWELS: I u e o a

 

Allophones are as follows: /p! has allophoiies [~] (ph), which occurs after vowels (Nos. 26, 85, 100, 128, 129, 178), and [p], which occurs else­where; /t! has allophones [0] (th), which occurs after vowels (Nos. 63, 76, 110, llh 172, 173), and [t], which occurs elsewhere; ml has allophones [v], which occurs intervocalically (No. 45), and Lu], which occurs elsewhere; /I/ has allophones Li], which occurs initially (Nos. 75 through 88), and [i], which occurs elsewhere.

 

The latter description is not really accurate, for initial hi! occurs in Nos. 71 ~o 74. Nevertheless, assuming a Hebrew base to the Nephite language, all names transliterated with an initial vowel must, in reality, begin with the glottal stop (in Hebrew writing the letter aleph). Likewise, since clusters of vowels do not occur in Hebrew ~except for the fur­tive patah, which will not be explained her&, it seems obvious to inc that those instances of vowel clusters in the Nephite names were actually cases of two vowels separated by either the glottal stop (Hebrew aleph) or by the voiced pharyngeal fricative (Hebrew cayin), neither one of which can be transliterated in English.

 

An examination of some of the biblical names in the list adds to the evidence that this may be the case (see Nos. 37, 58, 74, 98, 102, 145; the furtive patch occurs in Nos. 87 and 131). The trans­literation of semivocalic /i/ (that is, the allophone occurring before vowels) as [i] medially (Nos. 27 to 30, 41, 42, 48, 51 to 53, 56, 73, 79, 103, 114, 117, 118, 122, 146, 175, 185) and as [j] initially (Nos. 75 through 88) follows King James, and the medial [/] of Benjamin (No. 36), is also King James. The letter y occurs only in the biblical name Timothy (No. 172).

 

With a basic knowledge of Hebrew, one can readily see that the Nephite phonemic system is the same as the Hebrew. Some of the Hebrew pho­nemes are missing, but this may be accounted for by the fact that we have a selected list of names; in addition, some Hebrew phonemes (as explained above) cannot be transliterated into English.

 

I was tempted to list the ff in ziff (No. 184) and Zeniff (No. 179) as an allophone of 1pm, because it occurs only in final position (the final ph in Joseph, No. 85, may be attributed to an attempt to follow the King James rendering), but in a private communication to Robert F. Smith dated February 14, 1972, Dr. John Sorenson indicated that this would be final /w/, since ziff is a Hebrew word.

 

Even the fricative allophones of the Hebrew stops are reflected in the transliterations of Nephite names. It is interesting to note, however, that frica­tive allophones do not occur for all the stops. For example /b/, /d/, and 1gm, the voiced stops, all Oc­cur both after vowels and elsewhere, and hence do not have the fricative allophone. The same seems to be true of /k/. The tendency of these stops to lose their fricative allophones, a phenomenon of Is­raeli Hebrew (where only ,/b/, ~/p/, and /k/ have retained them), should not surprise us in the devel­opment of the Nephite language. In only one in­stance, Riplah (No. 143), does /p/ occur after a vowel. This, however, appears to be a Jaredite borrowing, for which see the Jaredite names Riplakish (No. 52) and Ripliancum (No. 53).

 

The question of the velar and uvular stops is intriguing. Here we have three symbols in the Nephite names—k, ch, and c. (It would appear that ch is the Hebrew heth.) I have assumed that k rep­resents Hebrew kaph (/k/), and that c represents the uvular qoph (/q/). The ck, on the other hand, is a hit problematic. It occurs in but two names, Ze­nock (No. 180) and Amalickiah (No. 8). I was tempted to treat it as a fricative allophone of 1km, since the other two voiceless stops have such allo­phones. But this seems impossible, since 1kb occurs after vowels as well (Nos. 7, 22, 112, 123, 124). With the exception of Muloki (No. 124), however, all of these examples show /k/ after /c/, unless we adopt the frequent RLDS reading of Mulok instead of Mulek. I hesitate to accord phonemic status to ck on the basis of only two examples, especially since otherwise there is good evident of a Hebraic sound system in the Nephi names.

 

In my investigation of the consonants /k/ and /c/, another provocative phenomenon came to my attention. With the exception of but a few names (Amlici, Jacob, and Jacobugath, where the occur­rence is medial, and Cezoram—cf. Seezoram—where the occurrence is initial), the names containing Id seem to be jaredite in origin (note the cum element in MoCUM, TeanCUM, CUMorah, and CUMeni). The same was true for all names with initial /k!. My analysis of Jaredite names showed that [k] and [c] were allophones of a single phoneme, since they were mutually exclusive. This is not true, however, of their occurrence in the Nephite list. The follow­ing comparative listing will illustrate:

 

 

Nephite Names

90. Korihor

42. Coriantumr

41. Corianton

 

Jaredite Names

14. Corihor

13. Coriantumr

11. Coriantor (cf. 41. Morianton)

12. Coriantum

 

 

As can be seen, the Jaredite [c] sometimes is transliterated as inch in the Nephite names, while at other times, it is 1k!. Evidently, while the Jaredites did not distinguish between the two voiceless velar (?) allophones in their language ([k] and [c]), the Nephites did make a distinction in their own lan­guage, an indication of the phonemic status of the 1k! and /c/ in the Nephite names. But due to the absence of such a distinction in Jaredite, when the Nephites (probably through the Mulekites) adopted Jaredite names, they sometimes took the Jaredite [c] as ikb, sometimes as he!. This may also be illus­trated by a list of the Nephite names containing the element kumen, which appears to come from the Jaredite language (cf. the elements corn and cum in Jaredite), though it is unattested there:

 

91. Kumen

43. Cumeni

89. Kishkumen(cf. Jaredite No. 35, Kish)

92. Kumenihah

38. Camenihah (RLDS: Cumenihah)

 

No mention has been made of consonant clus­ters thus far, and hence I will briefly point out a few significant facts. In Jaredite, there seem to be no instances of clusters of more than two con­sonants (typical of Semitic languages, though also of many other languages), unless the th in No. 27 rep­resents two phonemes (see above). A peculiarity of Jaredite, however, is the occurrence of final con­sonant clusters, of which there are three (Nos. 13, 39, and 62). Since the phoneme In is involved in each case, one might suspect it to be a syllabic resonant (as in English butter, ladder, etc.); this is hardly likely in No. 62, however, where we have a geminated /r/.

 

Most Nephite consonant clusters are likewise limited to two consonants, as we might anticipate (assuming the language to be Hebrew). Of import is the finding that the only such cluster in final posi­tion is in a Jaredite name (No. 42). The nts in No. 69 may represent only two consonants, /n/ and /e/ of Hebrew sadeh (which is often transliterated ts in English). But No. 142, with its cluster of mpt, is more problematic. It may be that the p is not a separate phoneme, but rather shows the changeover from the voiced bilabial bin! (by intermediary of voiceless bilabial /p/) to voiceless dental /t/. Hence, oftentimes speakers of English write Sam­pson instead of Samson, because they feel the p ef­fectively represents the devoicing after 1mb, in preparation for the following /s/.

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

In summation it may be stated that, despite a few minor problems (which would probably not have existed had there been additional names in the lists), the phonemic systems of both Jaredite and Nephite are rather clear,~ at least so far as we have them represented in the transliteration of Book of Mormon proper names. Some refinement of the analysis presented here may be forthcoming from other scholars. In any event, it is hoped that the work already accomplished will be useful in further investigation of the Book of Mormon. We have al­ready shown the effectiveness of Joseph Smith’s sys­tem of transliteration and its bearing as evidence of the two major peoples of the Book of Mormon. Further investigation of Book of Mormon proper names will give additional insights into the Record and its original languages.

 

GLOSSARY

 

By John Robertson and Ruth R. Christensen

 

allophone. Any of the variant forms of a phoneme (class of sounds) as conditioned by position or adjoining sounds, e.g., (ph) in pill and (p) in spill are allophones since (p”) always comes in initial position, and (p) must follow (s). Allophones are written between square brackets to show that they are not phonemic, but phonetic symbols.

 

Alpha and Omega. The first and last letters of the Greek alpha­bet, used in the Bible to describe the Eternal One (i.e., the beginning and the end).

 

cureloms and cumoms. Animals known by and useful to the Jaredites. It has been speculated that they are the main-moths and mastodons of modern scientific literature.

fricative. A consonant formed and pronounced by forcing the outgoing breath through a narrow opening between the teeth, lips,,etc., as f, a, v, and z, characterized by local fric­tional sounds.

 

furtive patah. When in Hebrew any short vowel before a final guttural becomes a short a, and between any long vowel and the final guttural there steals in the sound of short a, this is called the furtive patah. It is like the a sound in English here (hear) and fire (fiar).

 

Hebraisms. Idioms, attributes, or modes of thought which per­tain to the Hebrew language and culture.

 

Israeli Hebrew. The ancient Hebrew tongue, revived and used by the modern inhabitants of the land of Israel and taught to Jews everywhere.

 

intervocalically. Occurring between vowels.

 

pharyngeal. Sounds produced when the root of the tongue is pushed as far back and down as possible, as in Arabic and Hebrew Cayin

 

phoneme. A minimal unit of sound that distinguishes meaning in a word or utterance, e.g., /p/ vs /b/ in pu1 and bill. A phonemic symbol is enclosed between slanted lines, as illus­trated.

 

phonetic. The inventory of all the perceptively different sounds of a language is a phonetic and non-functional difference.

 

phonological structure. The interrelation of parts in the sound system of a language.

RLDS. Referring to the usage of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with headquarters at Inde­pendence, Missouri.

 

resonant. A sound produced when the breath stream has free passage through the vocal tract: the organs of articulation neither stop nor constrict its passage. They are m, n, fly, (nasals); w, y, (glides); 1, r, (liquids); and vowels.

 

stop. Speech sound articulated by a complete stoppage of air in the vocal tract, e.g., p. b, t, d, k, g, c,

 

bilabial stop. Complete stoppage of air at the lips, e.g., p. b.

 

glottal stop. A speech sound produced by a momentary com­plete closure of the glottis and then releasing the impounded breath, recorded by a curl sign (~) It is commonly heard in my? aunt, oh?oh, and hot water (ha?waDer) were the t of hot is not spoken as a t. syntactic. According to the rules of sentence structure and word relations.

 

transliterate. To represent in the characters of another writing system.

 

uvular. Sounds such as the French r, produced when the small flexible flap (uvula) which hangs down from the back edge of the velum, is contacted by the dorsuin of the tongue.

 

velar. Sounds articulated with the back of the tongue, e.g., k, x, g, Ca yin.

 

voiceless. Production of a speech sound without vibration of vocal cords, e.g., p. t, x, a.

 

voiced. Vibration of vocal cords during the production of a speech sound, e.g., b, d, g. z, etc.