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This gesture (reconstructed by me) corresponds to mehuppakh ("returned, turned around") -- a name befitting the degree which completes the octave in prosody. This sign is called yetiv by the Masorah and the early treatises when it is found in certain grammatical contexts; in such cases, it
is put at the beginning of the word. (Allegedly, it is simply a graphically and melodically transformed version
of the superlinear sign pashta!) Yet even
so, the Masorah lists eleven exceptional
cases where "yetiv" is placed
where mehuppakh is normally placed, and
which therefore may "cause confusion to the reader". A much simpler explanation is that one musical sign is being used to give different kinds of emphasis to the verbal text. "Yetiv" would thus be a name added after the creation
of the accent system, designed to give a special domain to a grapheme which originally meant one and the same thing
as mehuppakh.
Haïk-Vantoura never specifically addressed the significance of the positioning of mehuppakh (on some words) before the vowel-point, and usually slightly before the consonant as well.
(These are characteristics of the so-called "yetiv".)
But take that positioning into account, and it becomes clear that it signifies not only a rhythmic prolonging of,
but also a melodic marcato on, the accented
syllable. In effect, as pashta's position
at the end of a syllable signifies the forward prolonging
of the "syllable time", so the position of mehuppakh/"yetiv"
at the beginning of a syllable signifies the backwards prolonging of the "syllable time". So adjusted rhythmically, the melodic line in context gains
a lively rhythmic nuancing that enables
it to support the words with precision.
It would be a simple matter to convey such precision by means of the timing of the gesture conducting the melody. |
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Updated December 27, 2011 |
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