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- "הפלאפל הוא אוכל צמחוני נפלא."
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is all you see there in the UK
What? You're suggesting there are no homonyms in Hebrew? What about a word like דבר?
Still homonyms, if not homophones. Nevertheless, see: דבר=thing דבר=speech דבר=word Some spelled (or, spelt) the same, sound the same (homophones). Others, spelled the same, pronounced differently (homographs).
But we digress - why does פלאפל have an א? My guess is that it stems from an Aramaic word and is supposed to be pronounced with a distinctly א sound. Can anyone provide an answer?
I'd be surprised if it's Aramaic rather than Arabic in origin. Certainly Arabic and I think also Aramaic use א as a vowel letter, like י in Hebrew eg. גלידה. So in those languages א doesn't always represent a distinct /ʔ/ sound.
I'd have thought it's because it's derived from Arabic, which uses alif as a 'mater lectionis' for /a/ the same way Hebrew uses yod for /i/.
In many cases a vowel letter will be present even though it doesn't contribute to the sound of the word. This is known as an אם קריאה. A "silent vowel".
