Written by Mikhail Nosonovsky
Friday, August 13, 2004
An analysis of the Hebrew vowels in the light of vocalization systems in the Mishnaic and later periods. (reprinted with permission of the author)© M. Nosonovsky, 2001.
Mikhail NOSONOVSKY (Boston)
Hebrew Vowels: A Phonological Analysis
DIFFERENT TRADITIONS OF PRONUNCIATION
Introduction.
The transformation of the vowel system in Hebrew (Hebrew) over the centuries is considered in this work. Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite branch of the West Semitic subgroup of Semitic languages, the history of this language is divided into several periods: biblical, Mishnaic and rabbinic, modern Hebrew.
The main source in Biblical Hebrew is, of course, the Tanakh (Old Testament). The books of the Tanakh were written down over a long period, from the 13th century B.C. to the 3rd century BC, while their language is divided into Hebrew of the period before the Babylonian exile (586 BC) and after the captivity. The phonological system of this language is considered in detail in numerous scientific grammars of biblical Hebrew. It should be noted, however, that vowels in Biblical Hebrew were not originally indicated in writing. The voiced text at our disposal was written down only in the 6th-9th centuries. AD (i.e., 8-20 centuries later than the consonantal biblical text was written down) by Jewish learned Masoretes. Prior to this, the pronunciation of vowels was transmitted orally, according to tradition. By the time of the Masoretes, Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language (it had been supplanted by Aramaic) and different pronunciation traditions had developed (Tiberian, Palestinian, Babylonian, Samaritan).
Additional sources that shed light on the history of biblical Hebrew are epigraphic monuments (the earliest reliably dated Hebrew inscriptions date back to the 10th century BC) and transcriptions of Hebrew proper names in Greek and Latin translations of the Tanakh (from the 3rd century BC).
The next stage in the development of the language is Mishnaic Hebrew. The Mishnah was written down by 200 CE. In the early 20th century, Mishnaic Hebrew was assumed to be the artificial language of the Jewish scholars of the first centuries CE, while Hebrew was supplanted as the spoken language by Aramaic. An analysis of the grammar and vocabulary of Mishnaic Hebrew showed that it was a spoken language that was a descendant of Biblical Hebrew. The discovery of Qumran scrolls and manuscripts from the Cairo genizah has led scholars to conclude that Mishnaic Hebrew was the spoken language in Second Temple period Judea (with later biblical books emulating the style of the pre-captivity period) until the revolt of Bar Kokhba in the second century CE.
In the subsequent period, three main pronunciation traditions developed in the Jewish diaspora: Sephardic, Ashkenazi and Yemenite, dating back to three different Masoretic traditions. The modern Israeli pronunciation is based on the Sephardic tradition, which, in turn, goes back to the Palestinian pronunciation of the first centuries CE.
1. Vowels in Biblical Hebrew: Domasoretic sources.
Due to the consonant nature of Hebrew writing, information about vowel sounds in Hebrew from the epigraphic monuments of the First Temple era is very scarce and is limited to the use of matres lectionis (letters א "aleph", ו "vav", י "yod" and ה "hey", used to designate vowels). The earliest inscriptions related to 10-9 c. BC, did not use matres lectionis, as did the Phoenician inscriptions of this period. Then matres lectionis appear at the end of the word, to indicate the endings /u/ (letter ו "vav"), /a/, /e/, /o/ (letter ה "hey"), /e/ (letter י "yod"). In later inscriptions of the 8th-6th centuries. BC. the letters “vav” and “yod” are occasionally used to indicate /u/, /i/ in the middle of a word, for example ארור ’RWR ’arur.
The contraction of the diphthongs /aw/ > /o:/ and /ay/ > /e:/, for example, bayt > bet (day), yawm > yom (day), played an important role in the spread of matres lectionis to designate vowels. This contraction was more characteristic of the Northern (Israeli) dialect, as well as of the Moabite, Ammonite and Phoenician languages, and much less characteristic of the Jewish dialect. Writing with matres lectionis for words like בית bet or יום yom led to the fact that “yod” and “vav” were assigned the designation functions /e/ and /u/, which were subsequently transferred to all uses of these vowels (not just contracting diphthongs).
Another undoubted reflex of Proto-Semitic vocalism in the Hebrew of the First Temple period is the “Canaanite transition” /a:/ > /o:/ in the stressed syllable: ﺏﺘﺎﻜ ka:tib > כותב koteb (“writer”).
The most important source for the history of Hebrew vocalism is also the Hebrew pronunciation, attested by the Septuagint and other Greek and Latin transcriptions. The Septuagint, a translation of the Tanakh into Greek, made in Alexandria in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC, contains many proper names, the transmission of which in Greek letters makes it possible to judge the pronunciation of vowels. Of similar interest are the later translation of Origen (3rd century AD), the translations of the “three” (Achilla, Symmachus and Theodocyon, 2nd century AD), as well as the translation of the Old Testament into Latin by Jerome (4th century AD). The transmission of vowels in these translations, in comparison with the Tiberian vowels, is not entirely consistent. Kamatz is usually transmitted in alpha, less often in omicron (See Table 1).
Tab. 1. Hebrew vowels in Greek transcriptions
Origen's translation reflects a more archaic pronunciation, with the preservation of monosyllables in segolatic names (kalb instead of the Masoretic kaleb with an auxiliary segol), the preservation of /a/ in the particles ba-, la-, ka-, the preservation of /a/ in many models where /i/ is noted in the pronunciation of the Masoretes (for example, the name of the place and time maqtal), the absence of Philippi's law (the transition /i/ > /a/ in the closed stressed syllable, e.g. hizminti > hizmanti).
Information about vowels in the Hebrew of the Qumran scrolls is limited due to the lack of vowels. A characteristic feature of the spelling of the Qumran scrolls is the use of the letter “vav” to designate various variants /o/ and /u/ (holam-male, holam-haser, kamats-katan, hataf-kamats, shuruk and kubbutz of the Tiberias vowel). The few cases in which vav is not used to indicate /u/ or /o/ probably indicate a different pronunciation. These are cases of the preservation of the Proto-Semitic short /u/ in those words where in the Masoretic vowel this sound is reduced or gives kamatz-katan, separate words in which "vav" corresponds to the Masoretic kamatsu, segol or patah, /o/ in the form of segolat qotol (among the Masoretes qutl > qotεl). The letter "yod" is used less consistently than "vav" as a mater lectione denoting /i/ and /e/. Among other phenomena related to the vocalism of the language of the Qumran scrolls, it should be noted the appearance of glides (denoted by the letters י "yod", ו "vav", א "aleph") between two vowels, due to the weakening of the guttural or assimilation /y/, /w/: me'ot > meot > מיות meyot ("hundreds"), bå'u > båu > בו ו båwu ("they came"), goyim > goim > גואים go'im ("peoples") and diphthong contractions –aw > o, -uy > o.
The phonological system of the Mishnah vowels was poorly known until recently, apparently, it was characterized by many of the features considered above, inherent in the language of the Qumran scrolls, as well as attested by the Septuagint and other transcriptions. The publicized manuscripts found in recent decades have made it possible to make significant progress in its understanding. A significant difference is noted between the Palestinian and Babylonian dialects, for example, the latter is characterized by rounded vowels before or after guttural ones: /e/ > /u/ in the words שום shum /u/: קורדום qurdum /u/ in an open or stressed syllable in the Hebrew-Germanic dialect (> /o/ in Lithuanian pronunciation) simultaneously with /u/ > /i/ and /e/ > /ey/, which determined the distinction between patah and kamatz, as well as segol and tseire, in the Ashkenazi pronunciation. We note the diphthongization of cere and holam, which should be distinguished from the appearance of glide /y/, /n/ due to the non-pronunciation of guttural א, ע: ya‘aqob > yaaqov > yankðv (“Yaakov”). The pronunciation of vowels in different Ashkenazi pronunciations is presented in Table 6.
Table 6. Vowels in Ashkenazi pronunciations.
The stress in Ashkenazi pronunciation, as a rule, falls on the penultimate syllable, in the last syllable in a more fluent pronunciation, the vowel often takes on the color /e/ (שבת shabes - "Saturday") instead of the vowel. The shwa movable is not pronounced or pronounced as /e/.
The Yemeni pronunciation of Hebrew is based on the Babylonian tradition. As in the latter, the Yemeni pronunciation does not distinguish between patah and segol. Another characteristic feature is the opposition of the short pronunciation of hatafs to the long pronunciation of the remaining vowels. Shva is pronounced differently, depending on the phonetic environment: before y as /i/, before guttural as a short vowel, coinciding in quality with the vowel of the subsequent consonant, in other cases - as fluent /å/; a schwa at the end of a word is pronounced. Yemeni pronunciation was divided into five territorial variants: central (including San'u), northern (Haidan Ashsham and Sa'da), southwestern (Sharib), eastern (Habban and Hadyna) and Aden.
Table 7. Yemeni pronunciation of vocalizations.
In European universities and Christian seminaries, when reading the Tanakh, the so-called Reuchlin pronunciation, based on Sephardic, is adopted.
Modern Israeli pronunciation also goes back to Sephardic and Reichlin. Vowels do not differ in length, patah and kamats are pronounced the same as /a/, segol and tsere as /e/, the mobile seam is not pronounced or pronounced as /e/ (after sonorants ל /l/, מ /m/, נ /n/ and semivowel י /y/, as well as with particles be-, le, ke-, she-, ve-).
4. Conclusions.
A characteristic trend for all pronunciations is the preservation of the historical Semitic vowels /a/, /u/, /i/, with the exception of some cases (/u/ > /i/ in the Ukrainian version of Ashkenazi, /i/ > /e/ in Eastern Yemeni).
The situation is more complicated with the intermediary between /u/ and /a/ holam /o/ and kamatz /å/ and between /a/ and /i/ segol /ε/ and tsere /e/. Holam /o/ can either survive (most Sephardic and Yemenite pronunciations), or give /o/ > /u/ (some varieties of the Palestinian tradition, Samaritan, North African and Bukharian pronunciations), or be diphthongized /o/ > /oy/ (Ashkenazi pronunciations), /o/ > /ey/ (Lithuanian pronunciation, in this case the pronunciation of Holama coincided with Tsere).
The pronunciation of kamatza /å/ was preserved only among a part of the Yemenite and Persian Jews. in other traditions, kamatz coincides with Patah /å/ > /a/ (Palestinian, Samaritan and Sephardic tradition; in open syllable), or with Holam /å/ > /o/ (Ashkenazi Lithuanian, Bukharian, East Yemenite traditions). It is characteristic that the shift /å/ > /o/ usually occurs simultaneously with /o/ > /u/, which leads to the preservation of Kamatz as a separate phoneme, but the merging of Holam and Shuruk/Kubbutz.
Segol /ε/ did not differ from Patah /a/ in the Babylonian tradition and in the Yemenite pronunciation, in the Palestinian-Sephardic tradition segol coincides with tsere /e/. Only in the Ashkenazi pronunciation, where the diphthongization of tsere /e/ > /ey/ takes place, segol and tsere differ.
Table 8. Transitions leading to the fusion of vowel phonemes.
As noted above, the Tiberian tradition distinguishes 9 vowel phonemes, the functional load of two of them (segola and hataf-kamats) is extremely weak. The Tevenriad system distinguishes only 7 phonemes, the Palestinian system, in addition, does not distinguish between kamatz and patah (and sometimes holam and shuruk-kubbutz, but usually only one of these pairs), as well as shva-movable, having only 5 vowel phonemes, and the Samaritan system only 4. Pronunciation traditions adopted by different communities of the Jewish diaspora can distinguish from 7 to 4 vowels. Patah and segol, patah and kamats, segol and tsere, tsegol, tsere and hirik, kamats and holam, holam and shuruk-kubbutz, tsere and shuruk-kubbutz, tseire and holam can coincide. The main phonetic transitions leading to the coincidence of phonemes are noted in table 8. "
Stress in the Proto-Semitic language had no phonological meaning and was placed automatically on the penultimate syllable, or on the penultimate one if it was long (closed or with a long vowel), similar to how it happens in classical Arabic. The subsequent transfer of stress to the penultimate syllable and the dropping of endings gave the stress a semantic character. For example, q "a: mat > q" åmat > q "åmå ("she got up") and q "a: matu > qåm" atu > qåm "å ("rising"). In the traditional Tiberian notation of the Tanakh text, the stress is marked with cantillation marks; along with the main stress, there is also an auxiliary stress. As a rule, the stress falls on the last syllable, less often on the penultimate one. Communities belonging to the Sephardic pronunciation tradition generally follow these stress rules. Yemenite communities observe the Tiberian stress rules for words accompanied by dividing accents, while words accompanied by connecting accents often shift the stress to the penultimate syllable. Even more often deviations in the distribution of stress occur for non-biblical texts. Ashkenazi communities do not follow the Teveriadian rules of stress, as a rule, the stress falls on the penultimate or penultimate syllable. The Samaritans also usually stress the penultimate syllable, but this is considered a late tradition.
Finally, consider the question of the number of vowels in Hebrew. The terms "long" and "short" vowels can be used in several ways in Hebrew. It is assumed that the three Proto-Semitic vowels /u/, /a/, /i/ had a long and a short variant that were phonemically significant, similar to how it is observed in classical Arabic. The reflexes of these long and short Proto-Semitic vowels are well traced in Hebrew and allow us to speak of historically long and short vowels. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that in Biblical Hebrew, longitude / brevity does not have a phonemic meaning, and the lengthening / shortening of Proto-Semitic vowels, as a rule, was accompanied by a change in their qualitative coloring.
The Tiberian vowel system, considered in synchrony, does not allow us to talk about the opposition of long and short vowels. Its seven vowels vary in quality, but can represent both historically long and short sounds. At the same time, there are four vowels in the Tiberias system, denoting fluent vowels: schwa mobile and hatafy. This allows us to talk about the opposition in longitude of full and fluent vowels.
Sephardic pronunciation does not distinguish between segol and zeira, as well as patah and kamatz. But for most Sephardim, the spoken language was Arabic, which clearly contrasts long and short. Patah was usually associated with short /a/, and kamatz with long /a/. This allowed medieval Sephardic linguists to create a coherent classification with five long and five short /u/ - /o/ - /a/ - /e/ -/i/ (see Table 5). Shuruk, holam, kamatz, tsere and hirik-male (khirik in those cases when it is accompanied by mater lectionis) were classified as long ones. The short ones include kubbutz, kamatz-katan (i.e. kamatz in a closed unstressed syllable), patakh, segol, and hirik. Since matres lectionis usually accompany a historically long vowel, kamatz and tsere in most cases are derived from long ones, and patah (and segol) from short ones, such a system roughly corresponded to historical longitude / brevity. At the same time, this correspondence is not complete, and the real pronunciation of these vowels, as a rule, did not differ in longitude. This classification into long and short vowels is widely used in traditional and modern literature on Hebrew grammar and textbooks.
Literature.
S. Morag, The Vocalization Systems of Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Hague, 1962
E. Qimron. The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Atlanta, 1986.
M. Segal. A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew. Oxford, 1927.
Sh. Akhitov. ’Asufat ketovot ‘Hebrew. Yerushalayim, 1992.
A. Saenz-Badillos. A History of Hebrew Language. Cambridge, 1993.
I.M.Dyakonov. The Hebrew language and some data on the Phoenician (Punic) language // Languages of Asia and Africa, part IV, book 1. M., 1991.
Gezenius' Hebrew Grammar. Oxford.
F.M. Cross & D.N. Freedman. Early Hebrew Orthography. New Haven, 1952
S. Morag. Pronunciations of Hebrew // Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1971.
U. Weinreich. Yiddish // Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1971.
For example, the grammar of Gezenius (Gezenius, 1910), which was repeatedly reprinted and translated into different languages. Of the works in Russian, one can mention an essay on Hebrew grammar by I.M. Dyakonova (1991). The history of Hebrew stress and vocalism was considered in detail in the works of J. Blau.
See Segal, 1978.
Sianz-Badillas, 1996.
See Cross and Friedman, 1952. The first use of the letter m to represent a vowel is believed to be from the 9th c. BC. לשמעיהו lsm‘yhu (“belongs to Shemayah”).
See Akhitov, 1992.
In this work, we follow the names of vowel signs accepted in Jewish grammatical literature, which are somewhat different from the scientific tradition: hirik (hirek) /i/, tsere /e/, segol /ε/, patakh /a/, kamatz (kametz) /e/, holam (holem) /o/, shuruk (shurek) /u/, kubbutz (kibbutz) /u/, kamatz-katan (kametz- hatuf) /e/, hataf-patah (hatef-patah) /a/, hataf-segol (hatef-segol) /ε/, hataf-kamats (hatef-kametz) /e/, seam /r/. If necessary, the longitude of a vowel is indicated by a colon, for example a:, and the stress is indicated by ", for example, "a.
See Saenz-Badillos, 1996.
We are talking about the language of economic and other documents of the Qumran community. In addition, the Qumran scrolls have preserved numerous fragments of biblical books, the spelling of which also sheds light on the dialect of the members of the Qumran community.
See Qimron, 1986. We are talking about words where e was fixed by the Masoretes: אוניה ’wnyh (’eniya – “ship”) or movable schwa: פורת pwrt (Preret – “Euphrates”), יקטולו yqtwlw (yiqtрlu – “they will kill”) and etc. Ts. Ben-Chaim suggested that the language of the Qumran scrolls lacked the movable seam, just as it is absent in the Samaritan tradition, however, as E. Kimron points out, the spelling of the Qumran scrolls does not confirm this assumption.
It's about plural suffixes. numbers –um, -hum (Masoretic –em, -hεm), separate words: עולם‘wlwm (Masoretic: ‘olem – “eternity”), רחמון rhmwn (rahεmen – “merciful”), שומה shwmh (shamme – “there”), etc. It has been suggested that kamatz /e/ could have been pronounced as /o/ in the dialect of the Qumran community, but it is more likely that the vowel is rounded off before a labial consonant or ר resh (Qimron, 1986).
This is proved by the parallel use of -yw and -w to indicate the pronominal suffix of the 3rd person singular. numbers with both singular and plural names: ברואשיו brw’shyw / ברואשו brw’shw (berosho) and a similar parallel use of –wy / -w: ראוי r’wy / ראו r’w (ra’uy > ra’o). See Qimron, 1986, p. 33-34.
See Segal, 1978, p. 23-24. The transition /a/ > /u/ is also noted for the Palestinian Hebrew-Aramaic dialect.
See Saenz-Budillas, 1996, pp. 178-183.
It took several centuries for the vowel system to take on a complete form. Early vowel systems were diacritical dots placed below or above a word to indicate the vowel of the first letter. A dot above the word למשפחות or ויאמר indicated the reading of a vowel (for example, lamishpahot, wayomer), and below the word, a seam (lрmishpahot, wрyomar). In the next step, a dot above the word indicated that one of the vowels was /o/, not /a/, /e/, or /e/; /u/, not /a/, /e/, /i/ or /e/; /e/, not /a/, /e/ or /i/. The dot under the word indicated that the vowel belonged to the opposite group. For example, בנער bano‘ar (dot above) and bana‘ar (dot below). Gradually, this system developed into a full-fledged vowel system (Morag, 1962, pp. 17-18).
Patah and segol may denote allophones of the historically same phoneme. This is supported by the fact that in the Babylonian system they are designated by one sign. In Arabic, the phoneme /a/ (fatha) is realized as [a] before or after guttural or emphatic consonants, and as [e] in other cases. In the Tiberian system, only one pair is known that contrasts patah and segol: 'εr'εke ("I will see you") and 'ar'εke ("I will show you"). Apparently, the Teveriadian system fixed the transitional stage from the non-phonemic difference between [a] and [ε] to the phonemic one.
Traditional Hebrew grammars contrast kamatz and kamatz-katan (in a closed unstressed syllable), however, this opposition is more recent.
Shuruk and kubbutz both represent /u/. The difference between them is purely graphic: shuruk is used in mater lectioni with the letter “vav”, while kubbutz is used independently.
The so-called resting seam denotes the absence of a vowel sound. Some linguists do not consider the schwa (mobile) phoneme, giving phonemic status to doubling. These formulations appear to be equivalent. For example, the forms שמחה simhe ("joy") and simmphe ("she rejoiced") can be contrasted on one of these two complementary grounds (Morag, 1962, p. 24).
Graphically, three hatafs represent a seam in combination with the corresponding vowel. Shva is a fluent neural sound resulting from the reduction of a vowel. Khataf-patah and hataf-segol are allophones of schwa used after glottals, the latter usually being used after aleph. Known examples of hataf-patah [a] and hataf-segol [ε]: עני ‘anu (“answer”, 1 Sam., 12:3) and ‘εnu (“sing”, Nu., 21:17, Ps., 147:7), עלי ‘ali (“rise up”) and ‘εli (“stem”, Pr., 27:22) are not convincing enough s, since in the first of them the semantic difference between these two forms is not obvious, and in the second the word 'εli is used in the pause position where 'εli is expected (ibid., p. 23).
Khataf-kamatz is contrasted with hataf-patah / shva and kamatsu in several cases: אני ’ani (“I”) and ’еni (“fleet”), חלי hali (“disease”) and heli (“ornament”), דמי demi (“silence”) and demi (“my blood”), ibid., p. 22.
As appropriate pairs, דברך dрberεke (“your word”) and דבריך dрberε:ke (“your words”) and מורנו morenu (“our teacher”) and מורינו more:nu (“our teachers”) were suggested, ibid., p. 25. In the given plural forms /e/ and /ε/ are the result of diphthong contraction, i.e. historically long, but there is no evidence of a different pronunciation of the singular and plural forms; the orthography of tsere and tsere-male (i.e. with mater lectioni "iodine") in the post-Biblical period is extremely inconsistent.
The proposed table, of course, does not claim to be a complete description of vowel reflexes in Hebrew. Detailed descriptions can be found, for example, in the works of Gesenius, 1910, Dyakonov, 1991, Saenz-Badillos, 1997. The table does not indicate the reduction of vowels to /r/ in an open pre-stressed syllable.
In a stressed closed syllable (Filippi's law).
Canaanite transition /a:/ > /o:/.
See Morag, 1962, pp. 30-34.
See Morag, 1971, p. 1125
See Morag, 1962, p. 34-37.
Ibid, p. 43.
S. Morag believes that the Palestinian tradition of pronunciation (more widespread than the Tiberian tradition of scholars and scribes) supplanted the Babylonian tradition, which had previously been common among the Jews of North Africa and Spain, in the second half of the 10th century (Morag, 1971, p. 1125).
Historically, kamatz katan goes back to short /u/. The kamatz preceding the hataf-kamatz, however, was pronounced by the Sephardim as /a/ (For example, na‘omi - “Naomi”, Tiberian ne‘emi), as well as the kamatz in the word kel (ibid., p. 1138).
Ibid, p. 1136.
For example מלכה Malko, טבה שנה shono tuvo, ותמר אמנון Amnun va-Tomor, etc. The transition /a:/ > /o/ in an open syllable takes place in the Tajik language (the spoken language of Bukharian Jews).
This applies to reading biblical texts. When reading the Mishnah, many Sephardic communities did not read the shwa in forms like qetpl, qetpl, qotlim, qotpl (ibid., pp. 1126, 1137).
A similar phonetic shift is seen in Yiddish dialects: גאַס gas > gas ("street"), but טראָגן tragn > trogn ("carry"), etc. (See Weinreich, 1971, p. 794.) An alternative explanation for the difference between the Ashkenazi pathah/kamatz and segol/tsere, which did not take place in the Palestinian-Sephardic tradition, is M. Weinreich's hypothesis about the "Babylonian renaissance". According to this hypothesis, in the 13th century, a number of prominent Jewish scholars from Babylon (Iraq) immigrated to Central Europe, who introduced the Tiberian tradition of reading here (which by that time supplanted the Babylonian system in Iraq) and a number of other Babylonian customs (See Morag, 1971, pp. 1128-1130.)
Also /ey/: מלך meylekh ("king").
Also /o/ in Yiddish words: שבת shobes ("Saturday").
Named after the 16th century German Hebraist Johann Reuchlin.
The differences between the modern scientific pronunciation and the Sephardic one include the pronunciation of the kamats-katana, following the hataf-kamats, as /o/ (באניה be'eniya - "on the ship"), and the possibility of pronouncing the shva-intermediate (מלכי malěke - "kings").
Experimental studies show that the stressed vowel, as a rule, is pronounced somewhat longer than the unstressed one.
Influenced by Ashkenazi pronunciation, zeire can be pronounced as /ey/. This is especially true for conjugated forms (דברי divrey - "words") and with pronominal suffixes (ארצנו artzeynu - "our country") and forms with tseire-male. In some cases, the pronunciation /ey/ is opposed to /e/, which indicates the acquisition of /ey/ phonemic status (בן ben - "son" and בין beyn - "between").
In a closed unstressed syllable e > o, kamatz differs from patakh (kamats-katan), since holam /o/ usually does not occur in a closed unstressed syllable, mixing kamats-katan with holam does not occur.
In some North African communities, the pronunciation of segol and tsere coincided with hirik.
At the same time, the length/shortness of vowels had phonological significance.
For the history of stress in Biblical Hebrew, see I. Blau.
See Morag, 1971, p. 1143.
See also note 21.
© M. Nosonovsky, 2001.
These signs look like dots and dashes added below or above the letters.
Story
Various vowel systems for the Hebrew language - "Babylonian", "Palestinian" ("vocalization of the Land of Israel"), "Samaritan" - were developed by the Jewish academies from the early Middle Ages, reflecting various reading traditions.
The “Tiberias” system described here was developed along with the system of intonational signs (teamim, Hebrew טעמים “taste properties”) by the Masoretes of Tiberias (Tiberias) in the 6th-7th centuries. to preserve the correct pronunciation - the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.
To date, this is the only vowel system used for Hebrew writing.
Table
In this table, the letters (ב), (ח) and shin (ש) are used as basic consonants to which nekudot is added.
All other letters shown in the table are actually parts of the corresponding vowels.
It should be noted that the exact pronunciation of vowels depends on the dialect: they are pronounced differently than; the pronunciation adopted in Israel is closest to Sephardic, although not completely identical with it.
| Sign | Pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|
| Tiberian | contemporary Israeli | |
| בְ | שְׁוָא (šəwâ). Transliteration: ə (IPA /ə/ ), or omitted (when not denoting a sound). | שְׁווָא (šəva), seam. Official transliteration: ə (IPA /ə/ ), or omitted (when it does not indicate a sound); can also be rendered in Latin as e or apostrophe " . |
| חֱ | חֲטֶף סְגוֹל (ḥăṭep̄ səḡôl). Transliteration: ĕ (IPA /ɛ/). | חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל (ḥataf seggol), hataf segol or short segol. Transliteration: e(IPA /e/ ). |
| חֲ | חֲטֶף פַּתַח (ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ ). Transliteration: ă (IPA /a/ ). | חֲטַף פַּתַח (ḥataf pátaḥ ), hataf-patah or short stalemate. Transliteration: a(IPA /a/ ). |
| חֳ | חֲטֶף קָמֶץ (ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ ). Transliteration: ŏ (IPA /ɔ/). | חֲטַף קָמָץ (ḥataf qamaẓ ), hataf kamatz or short kamatz. Transliteration: o(IPA /o/ ). |
| בִ | חִירֶק (ḥîreq). Transliteration: i(IPA /i/ ) or í (IPA /iː/). | חִירִיק (ḥiriq), chirik. Transliteration: i(IPA /i/ ). Israelis usually replace it with ḥiriq male for ease of reading. |
| בִי | חִירֶק מָלֵא (ḥîreq mālê ). Transliteration: î (IPA /iː/). | חִירִיק מָלֵא (ḥiriq male), hirik-male or Hirik Yod. Transliteration: i(IPA /i/ ). |
| בֵ | צֵרֵי (ṣērê ). Transliteration: ē (IPA /eː/ ). | צֵירֵי (ẓere), cere. Transliteration: e(IPA /e/ ). |
| בֵי , בֵה , בֵא | צֵרֵי מָלֵא (ṣērê mālê ). Transliteration: ê (IPA /eː/ ). | צֵירֵי מָלֵא (ẓere male), cere-male or cere-iodine. Transliteration: e(IPA /e/ ) or ei(IPA /ei/ ). |
| בֶ | סְגוֹל (səḡôl). Transliteration: e(IPA /ɛ/ ) or é (IPA /ɛː/). | סֶגּוֹל (seggol), now. Transliteration: e(IPA /e/ ). |
| בֶי , בֶה , בֶא | סְגוֹל מָלֵא (səḡôl mālê ). Transliteration: ệ (IPA /ɛː/). | סֶגּוֹל מָלֵא (seggol male), segol-male or segol-iodine. Transliteration: e(IPA /e/ ) or ei(IPA /ei/ ). |
| בַ | פַּתַח (páṯaḥ ). Transliteration: a(IPA /a/ ) or á (IPA /aː/). | פַּתַח (pátaḥ ), patah. Transliteration: a(IPA /a/ ). |
| בַה , בַא | פַּתַח מָלֵא (páṯaḥ mālê ). Transliteration: ậ (IPA /aː/). | פַּתַח מָלֵא (pátaḥ male), patah-male. Transliteration: a(IPA /a/ ). |
| בָ | קָמֶץ גָּדוֹל (qāmeṣ gāḏôl). Transliteration: ā (IPA /ɔː/). | קָמַץ גָּדוֹל (qamaẓ gadol), kamatz-gadol or simply kamatz. Sometimes a vertical line is placed to the left of this sign to distinguish it from qamaẓ qatan. Transliteration: a(IPA /a/ ). |
| בָה , בָא | קָמֶץ מָלֵא (qāmeṣ mālê ). Transliteration: â (IPA /ɔː/). | קָמַץ מָלֵא (qamaẓ male), kamatz-male or kamatz-hey. Transliteration: a(IPA /a/ ). |
| בָ | קָמֶץ קָטָן (qāmeṣ qāṭān). Transliteration: o(IPA /ɔ/). | קָמַץ קָטָן (qamaẓ qatan), kamatz-katan or kamatz hatuf. Transliteration: o(IPA /o/ ). Israelis usually change it to ḥolam male for ease of reading. |
| בֹ | חֹלֶם (ḥōlem). Transliteration: ō (IPA /oː/). | חוֹלָם (ḥolam), holam. Transliteration: o(IPA /o/ ). This sign is written above the left edge of the letter, or slightly further (that is, after the letter). Israelis usually change it to ḥolam male for ease of reading. |
| בוֹ , בֹה , בֹא | חֹלֶם מָלֵא (ḥōlem mālê ). Transliteration: ô (IPA /oː/). | חוֹלַם מָלֵא (ḥolam male), holam male. Transliteration: o(IPA /o/ ). This sign is written slightly beyond the left edge of the letter, that is, directly above the vav. |
| בֻ | קִבּוּץ (qibbûṣ ). Transliteration: u(IPA /u/ ) or ú (IPA /uː/). | קוּבּוּץ (qubbuẓ ), kubbutz. Transliteration: u(IPA /u/ ). Israelis usually replace it with šuruq for ease of reading. |
| בוּ | שׁוּרֶק (šûreq). Transliteration: û (IPA /uː/). | שׁוּרוּק (šuruq), shuruk. Transliteration: u(IPA /u/ ). This character is written after the base letter because it is a vav with a dot similar to dageš . |
| בּ | דָּגֵשׁ (dāḡēš). This sign is not a vocalization, but doubles the basic consonant letter or indicates a “hard” (i.e. explosive) version of its pronunciation. A letter with this sign can have any vowel. | דָּגֵשׁ (dageš), Dagesh. Although the standard Hebrew transliteration indicates consonant doubling, it is almost completely ignored in pronunciation by modern Israeli. However, the pronunciations of some letters (ב, ג, ד, כ, פ, ת) differ, and the dagesh indicates a plosive. When this sign indicates a doubling of a consonant, it is called Dagesh Khazak; when on a solid pronunciation, it is called dagesh-kal.With most consonants, this sign is written in the middle, although its exact position depends on the specific base letter - for example, with yod, it is written behind the letter. With guttural consonants and the letter resh (א, ה, ח, ע, ר) dagesh is not written, but with the letter hey (ה) at the end of the word it can be used mappic- a dot similar to dagesh and indicating that hey in this case is a consonant. |
| שׁ | Tire point š (IPA /ʃ/). More common transliteration: sh. The dot tire is written above the first (rightmost) stick of this letter. | |
| שׂ | sina point. This sign is not a vocalization, but indicates that the letter of the tire above which it is written denotes the sound ś (IPA /ɬ/). Modern transliteration: s(IPA /s/ ). The dot sina is written above the third (leftmost) stick of this letter | |
| בֿ | Rafe. This sign is not a vocalization, but an indication of the absence of a dagesh: either a “soft” (fricative) version of the pronunciation of the consonant, or the absence of its doubling. | Practically not used. Sometimes used in Yiddish to distinguish between the letters פּ (IPA /p/ ) and פֿ (IPA /f/ ). Also sometimes used to indicate unpronounceable letters such as ה and א. In ancient manuscripts, either dagesh or rafe is written with almost every letter. In the most confusing case - in the text of the Ten Commandments, for which there are two reading options, usually printed together - both dagesh and rafe can be written with the same letter, indicating that the consonant is considered hard in one reading option and soft - in another. |
Keyboard input
Although there is a standard Hebrew keyboard layout, different software systems provide different ways to enter nekudot.
The most popular method for entering vowels is now implemented in Microsoft Windows and OpenOffice.org: in Caps Lock mode, while holding down the ⇧ Shift key, the keys of the top row of the keyboard, from ~ to = , as well as \ , are used.
As a rule, only consonant sounds are denoted by letters in Hebrew. Exceptions are foreign words, names and titles, and native Hebrew words, which include "reading mothers".
Vowel sounds are shown by special icons - dots and / or dashes that are placed under or above the letters. They are called diacritics, or vowels. They are written only in some textbooks, in children's books, in poetry and in texts from the Tanakh. In other cases, it is assumed that the reader is fluent in Hebrew and has accumulated sufficient linguistic intuition to "decipher" the text without vowels.
In order to facilitate the reading of unvoiced texts (in particular, to distinguish between the spelling of words with the same root), additional letters י "yud" (in place of the sound [and]) and ו "vav" (in place of the sound [o] or [y]) are often inserted into them. To emphasize that in this word "yud" is part of the root and sounds like [th], it is sometimes doubled: יי, and in order to show that "vav" is included in the root and reads [in], it is also doubled: וו (see). At the beginning of words, such doublings are not performed, since "yud" and "vav" in this position are already read as [th] or [v] respectively (except when "vav" is not part of the root, but the union "and" - then it can also sound like [y]).
In ancient Hebrew, there were vowel sounds of three types of longitude: long, short, and extra-short. In the modern version of the language that exists in Israel, the difference between long and short sounds has disappeared - therefore, we will call them ordinary. Readers interested in the history of the language are invited to read about the former long and former short sounds and much more. And the ultra-short sounds have been preserved; sometimes in fast speech they are completely "swallowed".
The table shows the Hebrew vowel system in its current form.
| Russian analogue of sound | international designation | the sound of ordinary longitude | Name | example | note no. | super short sound | Name | example | note no. |
| [a] | [a] | ַ | patah | רַ [ra] | No | ֲ | hataf-patah | עֲ [ah] | 2 |
| [A] | [A] | ָ | kamatz | רָ [ra] | 1 | No | No | No | No |
| [e] | [e] | ֶ | segol | רֶ [re] | No | ֱ | hataf-segol | אֱ [e] | 2 |
| [e] | [e] | ֵ | tsere haser | רֵ [re] | 3 | No | No | No | No |
| [Hey] | י ֵ | Cere Male | רֵי [ray] | 4 | No | No | No | No | |
| [And] | [i] | ִ | khirik haser | רִ [ri] | No | No | No | No | No |
| [And] | [i] | י ִ | hirik male | רִי [ri] | No | No | No | No | No |
| [O] | [o] | ׂ | holam haser | רׁ [ro] | 5 | ֳ | hatAf-kamAtz | רֳ [ro] | No |
| [O] | [o] | וֹ | HOLAM MALE | רוֹ [ro] | 5 | No | No | No | No |
| [y] | [u] | וּ | shurUk | רוּ [ru] | No | No | No | No | No |
| [y] | [u] | ֻ | kuUts | רֻ [ru] | 6 | No | No | No | No |
| there is no exact analogue; this is a fuzzy sound, the middle between [e] and [s] | [ә] | No | No | No | No | ְ | seam | רְ [rə] | 7 |
Table notes 1. In a number of exception words, "kamats" is read as [o], while changing its name to "kamats-katAn".
2. It is placed under the letters א, ה, ח, ע in those positions where, according to the general rules, a "seam" should be.
3. In the Western European (Ashkenazi) tradition, as well as in the Yiddish language, "cere" is pronounced like [hey]; it also sounds under the letter "tav" in the exception word תשע [teishaʻ] "nine".
4. The study of the vocalization "Tsere-male" is optional, since it is the sum of "Tsere-Khaser" and the letter "Yud". However, please note that in
Learning to read unfamiliar words in Hebrew without vowels. What is a “mishkal” or model and how does it help us?
Agree, learning Hebrew is exciting and interesting. It is a very logical language based on a regular system.
Let's understand, for example, the word מלון - malon - a hotel. In Russian, the root for “hotel” is “guest”, but in Hebrew? Everything is different here! מלון - malon from the word "to spend the night - ללון - lalun" therefore, if we translate more precisely, we will get a "bedroom". But perhaps we'd better not do that.
Now let's compare it with other words:
"מטוס - matOs - plane" from "לטוס - latus - to fly", and "משוב - mashov -
feedback or feedback "from - לשוב lashUv - to return." So we got an example of a “model” - that is, a kind of skeleton for the formation of words. In the course of classes, we gradually learn to read unfamiliar words correctly, even without vocalizations, since all words begin to “fit” into certain patterns.
Now try to read the words yourself by analogy: מחוג, מזון, מעון.
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Learning Hebrew grammar. Phenomenon…
For those who start learning Hebrew, the question often arises: “How can you read without vowels?” Many have heard about the so-called "vocalization", but do not have a very clear idea of what it is. Let's try to figure it out.
First, a little history. Let's go back to those ancient times when humanity moved from hieroglyphic writing to cuneiform writing.
In Babylonian cuneiform, different signs were used to indicate syllables formed by the same consonant with different vowels. Therefore, there should have been a lot of cuneiform signs. For example, the syllables "by", "ba", "bo", "bi" would require four different characters.
The alphabet system (letter writing) was born in the west of the Semitic world, in Phoenicia. It formed the basis of both the Greek and other Mediterranean alphabets.
Nevertheless, in the ancient Semitic languages themselves, the final transition from syllabic to alphabetic writing was not completed.
They used only signs denoting consonant sounds. The place or the very presence of vowels was not indicated at all. As, for example, if in Russian the words “elephant”, “elephant” and “elephants” would be written in the same way - “sln”.
We can see the same spelling in the oldest Jewish inscriptions in the so-called Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (the closest relative of the Phoenician).
Paleo-Hebrew inscription from Khirbet Kaiafa.
Hebrew occupied an intermediate place between syllabic and alphabetic writing. It can be said that in the Hebrew texts, each consonant potentially contained all possible variants of syllables that include this consonant, that is, all possible vowels adjacent to it, including zero (the so-called “shva”)
Therefore, in modern Hebrew, when we write a letter, we mean that it can be read as a syllable with different vowels or without them at all, as a pure consonant without a vowel (for example, at the end of a word).
Let's take words with a letter ג gimel:
גמר gamAr -"finished" - ha
גמר hemer- "ending" - ge
גמורה gmurA- "finished" - gj(very short uh)
חריג charig- "unusual" ( G- at the end of a word, just a consonant, without a vowel)
The same consonant ג ( gimel) is read in these words in different ways: ha, ge, ge and just G.
How, after all, to understand which vowels are present in syllables and how to read and understand the meaning of the text correctly?
For this purpose, there are various ways to facilitate reading.
Mothers of reading - א, ה, ו, י
In ancient Hebrew, they gradually began to use the so-called "mothers of reading" אמהות הקריה (imahFrom hakriya). These are consonants, denoting vowel sounds in some cases.
For this purpose, the letters available in the alphabet were used: א ה ו י - Aleph, Hey, Vav, Yod.
In certain positions, most often at the end of a word, they still serve to denote vowels - a, uh, oh, u etc.
א Aleph, mainly for "a" and "e".
ה hey- for "a" or "e" at the end of a word.
ו wav- for "o" and "y".
י yod- for "i" and "e".
For example,
אש Ish -"man" אשה ishA-"woman"
קר car- "cold" קרא carA- "read"
"Mothers of reading" contribute to both correct reading and understanding of the meaning of the text.
For example, if we see words like מדריך madrich And מדריכה Madriha, lastה hey will read like A and indicate the feminine gender (“counselor” - “counselor”).
ו wav, inserted between consonants in the middle of a word, in most cases it will sound like "o" or "u". The same will happen at the end of the word.
לומד scrapmed- "(he is studying"
לימוד limud- "teaching"
תלמדו tilmedU- "learn"
At the beginning of a word ו wav rarely written and always denotes the sound "in".
ויכוח wuah- "dispute"
At the end of a word, the sound “v” is usually transmitted using the letter ב bet, which at the beginning of the word will only be read as “b”.
קרןב carov- "close"
Combination יו yud-vav at the end of the word is read as "av".
אכשיו ahshav- "Now"
End letters
In the era of the Prophets, a special form appeared for some consonants, which indicated the end of a word. The texts at that time were written together, without spaces between words. Naturally, this created problems when reading. These letters are included in the modern Hebrew alphabet.
Final letters in the Hebrew alphabet Here are examples of their use in Modern Hebrew.
דרך dereh -"road"
סוף sofa – "end"
ארץ Eretz -"Earth"
בן ben -"son"
The role of the root in understanding Hebrew texts
In understanding texts in Semitic languages, including Hebrew, the root plays a special role (in Hebrew - שורש Shoresh).
In Russian, there are many roots with the same consonants, and it is difficult to distinguish them without vowels, for example: court, carat, map.
In Semitic languages, there are much fewer roots with the same consonants. Therefore, seeing the root, we already understand what word (or, at least, what semantic meaning) is being discussed. Of course, for this it is necessary to have a large supply of roots in memory. Therefore, it is not easy for a beginner to read words at first.
The value of word-formation patterns for easier reading
In Hebrew, word-formation patterns are also of great importance (משקל mishkal). They indicate the structure of the word and make it easier to read.
For example, it is known that nouns formed from verbs with the prefix –ma most often mean a tool, and with the prefix –mi- place.
Knowing this model, and relying on the context, one can correctly understand which vowel is meant in a syllable containing the letter מ meme: "a" or "and".
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Knowledge of grammatical forms
Correct reading helps knowledge of grammatical forms. For example, nouns and verbs of different types have a certain set of prefixes and endings to denote different grammatical categories (time, person, number, etc.).
For example, the past tense verb has the ending in the second person masculine - A, and in the feminine - zero ending. The spelling matches.
Now, when teaching to read in Hebrew, a system of so-called “vocalizations” is used - נקודות nowhere. It is usually used at the initial stage to facilitate reading.
It is interesting that historically the system of vowels in Hebrew did not develop as a teaching tool at all. It was developed when, as a result of the dispersion of Jews around the world, Hebrew began to lose its role as the language of everyday communication. In Eretz Israel itself, at this time, it began to be replaced by other languages, such as Aramaic and Greek.
There was a threat of a cultural divide. Jews living in different countries gradually lost the ability to read the Tanakh (Holy Scripture) - the main legacy of the past that united them during the years of dispersion.
To prevent further disunity, in the 7th-8th centuries. a system of voicing biblical texts was developed, and Jews began to read them all the same (with slight variations).
Special signs were invented for vowel sounds that are written under consonants, as well as signs showing pronunciation options for consonants - “dageshi” ( דגש Dagesh).
Pronunciation of consonants with and without "dagesh" Initially, the voicing system was used only for voicing the Tanakh, and then it began to be used for educational purposes.
The first such book was a dictionary written in the 10th century.
How to read Hebrew text without vowels?
In general, we can say that writing in Hebrew is still focused on a native speaker who feels it from the inside. For him, the absence of vowels is not a serious obstacle.
For foreigners, the absence of vowels greatly complicates reading and learning the language in general. Nevertheless, learning to read Hebrew is quite possible.
Millions of people who came to Israel learned Hebrew. Thousands are teaching it in the diaspora. They fluently read and understand texts written in Hebrew.
Success in learning to read require practices, and root knowledge and word-formation models that give an idea of the structure of the word.
