§ 92. Vowel Changes in the Noun.
1. Vowel changes in the noun may be caused (a) by dependence on a following genitive; (b) by connexion with pronominal suffixes, (c) by the plural and dual terminations, whether in the form of the absolute state or of the construct (before a following genitive of a noun or suffix).
2. In all these cases, the tone of the noun is moved forward either one or two syllables, while the tone of the construct state may even be thrown upon the following word. In this way the following changes may arise:—
(a) When the tone is moved forward only one place, as is the case when the plural and dual endings ~y¤ià tA and ~YI¤;ñ are affixed, as well as with all monosyllabic or paroxytone suffixes, then in dissyllabic nouns the originally short vowel of the first syllable (which was lengthened as being in an open syllable before the tone) becomes SèewaÖ, since it no longer stands before the tone. On the other hand, the originally short, but tone-lengthened vowel, of the second syllable is retained as being now the pretonic vowel; e. g. rb'D' word (ground-form daçbaçr), plur. ~yrIb'D>; with a light suffix beginning with a vowel, yrIb'D>à Wnreñb'D>; plur. yr;b'D>à ^yr,ñb'D>, &c. @n"K'wing, dual ~yIp;ñn"K.. With an unchangeable vowel in the second syllable: dyqiP' overseer, plur. ~ydIyqiP.; with the suffix of the sing. ydIyqiP.à WndeñqiP., &c.; with the suff. of the plur. yd;qiP.à ^yd,ñyqiP., &c. With an unchangeable vowel in the first syllable: ~l'A[ eternity, plur. ~ymil'A[), with suff. ymil'A[), &c.1
But in participles of the form ljeqo, with tone-lengthened eÒ (originally iç) in the second syllable, the eÒ regularly becomes SèewaÖ mobile before a tone-bearing affix, e. g. byEao enemy, plur. ~ybiy>a)o, with suff. ybiy>a)o, &c. Likewise in words of the form lJeqià lJeq;, &c. (with eÒ in the second syllable; § 84b d, l, p; § 85 i and k), e. g. ~Leai dumb, plur. ~ymiL.ai.
(b) When the tone of the construct state, plural or dual, is carried over to the following word, or, in consequence of the addition of the grave suffixes to the constr. st. plur. or dual, is moved forward two places within the word itself, in such cases the originally short vowel of the second syllable becomes SèewaÖ, while the vowel of the first syllable reverts to its original shortness, e. g. ~['h' yreb.DI the words of the people, ~k,ñyreb.DI your words, ~h,ñyreb.DI their words (in all which instances the iç of the first syllable is attenuated from an original aç).
In the segholate forms in the singular and mostly in the dual the suffix is appended to the ground-form (yKil.m; my king, WnKeñl.m;, &c.); on the other hand, before the endings ~y¤ià tA (sometimes also before ~yI¤;ñ) a Qames regularly occurs,2 before which the vowel of the first syllable then becomes vocal SèewaÖ (~ykil'm.à tAkl'm.). This QamesÌ (on which cf. § 84a a) remains even before the light suffixes, when attached to the plur. masc. (yk;l'm.à ^yk,ñl'm., &c.). On the other hand, the constr. st. plur. and dual, regularly, according to d, has the form ykel.m;, with grave suffix ~k,ykel.m;, &c., ytel.D; from ~yIt;ñl'D> folding-doors.
(c) Before the SèewaÖ mobile which precedes the suffix ^ when following a consonant, the a-sound, as a rule, is the only tonelengthened vowel which remains in the final syllable (being now in an open syllable before the tone), e. g. ^ñm.D†'Ã ^ñr>b†'D>, &c. (on the forms with eÒ in the second syllable, see § 93 qq); but before the grave suffixes ~k,¤. and zk,¤. in the same position it reverts to its original shortness, as ~k,r>b;D> (debhaçrkheÊm), &c. In the same way the tonelengthened aÒ or eÒ of the second syllable in the constr. st. sing. also becomes short again, since the constr. st. resigns the principal tone to the following word, e. g. ~yhil{a/ rb;D> È tyIB;ñh; rc;x] (from rcex').
Rem. The Masora (cf. Diqduqe ha-tÌeamim, p. 37) reckons thirteen words which retain QamesÌ in the constr. st. some of which had originally aÖ and therefore need not be considered. On the other hand, ~l'Wa or ~l'au 1 K 7:6, Ez 40:48, &c. (in spite of the conser. st. plur. yMel;a†u); xj'b.mi y Ps 65:6, Pr 25:19; bC'm; 1 S 13:23 (so Baer, but ed. Mant., Ginsburg, &c. bC;m;); lq'v.mi Ezr 8:30 and !T'm; Pr 18:16 are very peculiar.
3. The vowel changes in the inflexion of feminine nouns (§ 95) are not so considerable, since generally in the formation of the feminine either the original vowels have been retained, or they have already become SèewaÖ.
Besides the vowel changes discussed above in a–g, which take place according to the general formative laws (§§ 25–28), certain further phenomena must also be considered in the inflexion of nouns, an accurate knowledge of which requires in each case an investigation of the original form of the words in question (see §§ 84–86). Such are, e. g., the rejection of the h of h¾¾l stems before all formative additions (cf. § 91 d), the sharpening of the final consonant of [¾¾[ stems in such cases as qxoà yQixu, &c.
A striking difference between the vowel changes in the verb and noun is that in a verb when terminations are added it is mostly the second of two changeable vowels which becomes SèewaÖ (lj;q'Ã hl'j.q†'Ã Wlj.q†'), but in a noun, the first (rb'D'Ã yrIb'D>Ã ~yrIb'D>), cf. § 27. 3.
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