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# The Direct Object Marker /t-/ in Bar-Kosiba Hebrew: A Manifestation of Widespread Vowel Prosthesis in Post-Biblical Hebrew

**Authors:** Ivri J. Bunis · **Year:** 2025 · **Venue:** Journal of Semitic Studies 70(2), 591–633 **Link:** [doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf008](https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf008) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W4409348806) openalex · 2026-10-18[Journal of Semitic Studies](https://openalex.org/S1709330)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf008)
- [PDF](https://academic.oup.com/jss/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/jss/fgaf008/62906671/fgaf008.pdf)
- [DOI 10.1093/jss/fgaf008](https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf008)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W4409348806)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Ivri J. Bunis](https://openalex.org/A5069898719) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4239-4186) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/2005384558) · h 2 · 4 citations · 10 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-18); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

The full text is not in the library; this card rests on the abstract on the publisher's page, and its ideas are provisional. In the Bar-Kosiba (Bar Kokhba) letters of about 134–135 CE the object marker אֵת appears as a reduced t- written onto the next word, not only onto the article (ת־ה… > תה…) but also onto the interrogative מִי and other words. The usual account says t- came from אֵת fused with the article and then spread by analogy. Bunis argues instead from a sound change: post-Biblical Hebrew widely added a prosthetic vowel before initial consonant clusters, especially after the prepositions b- and l-, which made "et + CV-" sound just like "t- + prosthetic vowel + CV-"; speakers reanalysed the marker as a prefix t- on that model.

## Ideas

- I1. In the comparison chapter, add the Bar-Kosiba t- as a dated step in the history of אֵת between Biblical את/־אֶת and Mishnaic Hebrew, with the two competing explanations and no verdict.
- I2. For any future tokenizer of non-Biblical Hebrew (letters, Mishnah manuscripts), a word-initial ת before ה or a noun should be tried as a split candidate (object marker + word), the way MACULA already splits prefixes; record it as a known variant, not a rule for the Torah.

## For Mova

I1 is text for [12. Biblical, Mishnaic and Modern Hebrew compared](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/12-biblical-mishnaic-modern/) and `11-mishnaic.md` (pronouns and particles), and a cross-reference from `05-pronouns-particles.md` (the object marker). I2 is a note for chapter 13's gaps (tokenizing texts outside MACULA). Nothing here changes the Torah trees.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.1093/jss/fgaf008](https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf008)

```
@article{bunis2025direct,
  title = {{The Direct Object Marker /t-/ in Bar-Kosiba Hebrew: A Manifestation of Widespread Vowel Prosthesis in Post-Biblical Hebrew}},
  author = {Bunis, Ivri J.},
  journal = {Journal of Semitic Studies},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1093/jss/fgaf008},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgaf008}
}
```

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