The Causative Internal Passive in Qumran Aramaic

Although the prevailing vocalism of the Aramaic causative internal passive is thought to be ‘Hoph'al’, there is some evidence for an alternative vocalism with short /a/ in the first syllable, therefore ‘Haph'al’. The orthographic renderings of the causative passive in Qumran Aramaic suggest that the vocalism in that dialect was throughout ‘Haph'al’. Although it is tempting to hypothesize that ‘Haph'al’ was in fact the normal vocalism of the stem in all ancient Aramaic, it is possible that ‘Hoph'al’ was also used in some dialects. Finally, it is suggested that the vocalism of the ‘Ittaph'al’ stem is based on the ‘Haph'al’.