Biblical Hebrew phonology
Encyclopedia
Biblical Hebrew phonology is the sound system of the Biblical Hebrew language
. It is reconstructed as follows:
The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so called "emphatics" were likely ejective, but possibly pharyngealized or velarized. Some argue that /s, z, sʼ/ were affricated (/ts, dz, tsʼ/).
Originally, the Hebrew letters ח and ע each had two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However the uvular phonemes /χ/ ח and /ʁ/ ע merged with their pharyngeal ones /ħ/ ח and /ʕ/ ע respectively c. 200 BCE. This is observed by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac
= versus Rachel
= ), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in Ezra and Nehemiah.
The phoneme /ɬ/, also unmarked by Hebrew orthography, is attested by internal and comparative evidence; in particular it is preserved as a lateral fricative in Modern South Arabian dialects. /ɬ/ began merging with /s/ in Late Biblical Hebrew, as indicated by interchange of orthographic ‹ש› and ‹ס›, possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and this became the rule in Mishnaic Hebrew. In all Jewish reading traditions /ɬ/ and /s/ have merged completely; however in Samaritan Hebrew /ɬ/ has instead merged with /ʃ/.
Allophonic spirantization of /b ɡ d k p t/ to [v ɣ ð x f θ] (known as begadkefat
spirantization) developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic.Or perhaps Hurrian
, but this is unlikely See . This probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes /θ, ð/ disappeared in the 7th century BCE, and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BCE.According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of /χ, ʁ/ and /ħ, ʕ/, or else [x, χ] and [ɣ, ʁ] would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However Blau argues that it is possible that lenited /k/ and /χ/ could coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian Syriac). See . It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE. After a certain point this alternation became marginally phonemic in word-medial and final position, but in word-initial position they remained allophonic. This is evidenced both by the Tiberian vocalization's consistent use of word-initial spirants after a vowel in sandhi, as well as Rabbi Saadia Gaon
's attestation to the use of this alternation in Tiberian Aramaic at the beginning of the 10th century CE.
The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/, e.g. חמר ħmr for Masoretic אָמַר /ʔɔˈmar/ 'he said'. However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal. Confusion of gutturals was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, /ʔ ħ h ʕ/ have generally all merged, either into /ʔ/, a glide, or null, often creating a long vowel, except that original /ʕ ħ/ sometimes have reflex /ʕ/ before /a ɒ/.
Geminate consonants are phonemically contrastive in Biblical Hebrew. In the Secunda /w j z/ are never geminate. In the Tiberian tradition /ħ ʕ h ʔ r/ cannot be geminate; historically first /r ʔ/ degeminated, followed by /ʕ/, /h/, and finally /ħ/, as evidenced by changes in the quality of the preceding vowel.The vowel before originally geminate /r ʔ/ usually shows compensatory lengthening, e.g. הָאָב /hɔˈʔɔv/ 'the father' < /*haʔːab/; with /ʕ/ preceding /*i/ tends to remain short; with /h/ original /*a/ also remains short, and /ħ/ generally does not cause compensatory lengthening, e.g. יְרַחֵם 'he will have compassion'. See
and varieties of Babylonian
and Palestinian
), and those of the Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded
merges with /e/ in the Palestinian tradition and with /a/ in the Babylonian traditionWhile the vowels /a e i ɔ o u/ certainly have phonemic status in the Tiberian tradition, /ɛ/ has phonemic value in final stressed position but in other positions it may reflect loss of the opposition /a : i/. See
merges with /a/ or /o/ in the Palestinian tradition
The Tiberian tradition has the reduced vowel phonemes /ă ɔ̆/ and marginal /ɛ̆/, while Palestinian and Babylonian have one, /ə/
/u/ and /o/ only contrast in open post-tonic syllables, e.g. ידו /jedu/ 'his hand' ידיו /jedo/ 'his hands', where /o/ stems from a contracted diphthong. In other environments, /o/ appears in closed syllables and /u/ in open syllables, e.g. דור /dor/ דורות /durot/.
results from both /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables
Proto-Semitic likely had a vowel system with three qualities and two lengths, i.e. */a aː i iː u uː/, where the long vowels only occurred in open syllables. Later, final unstressed short vowels dropped out in some words, making it possible for long vowels to occur in closed syllables. Hebrew shows the Canaanite shift
whereby */aː/ often shifted to /oː/); the conditions of this shift are disputed.In fact, its scope of application is different in Samaritan and Tiberian Hebrew (e.g. פה 'here' Tiberian /po/ vs. Samaritan /fa/), see . Even in Tiberian Hebrew doublets are found, e.g. /kʼanːo(ʔ?)/ = /kʼanːɔ(ʔ?)/ 'zealous'. See This shift had occurred by the 14th century BCE, as demonstrated by its presence in the Amarna letters
(c. 1365 BCE). The Proto-Hebrew vowel system is thus reconstructed as */a aː oː i iː u uː/ (and possibly rare */eː/).
The short vowels */a i u/ tended to lengthen in various positions: first in pretonic position in an open syllable, and later in stressed open syllables.This relative chronology is established by forms like קָטְלוּ (Secunda: /qaːtʼəˈluː/), originating from */qaˈtʼaluː/. The first vowel */a/ first lengthened because it was in a pretonic syllable, yielding */qaːˈtʼaluː/. By a later development, stressed short vowels in an open syllables were reduced and lost the stress, yielding /qaːtʼəˈluː/. See .Parallels to Aramaic syllable structure suggest pretonic lengthening may have occurred in the Second Temple period. See In the Secunda, their lengthened reflexes are /aː eː oː/; when kept short they generally have reflexes /a e o/.Long /aː eː oː/ were written as ‹α η ω›, while short /a e o/ were written ‹α/ε ε ο›. This length distinction is also found in the LXX. See , , and In the Secunda /*a *i *u/ are preserved as short in originally closed syllables and in the third syllable before the stress. See */a i u/ were reduced to /ə/ in the second syllable before the stress, in stressed open syllables (e.g. קטלו /qaːtʼəˈluː/ < */qaˈtʼaluː/), and occasionally reduced rather than lengthened in pretonic position (e.g. σεμω = שמו).The Secunda also has a few cases of pretonic gemination. See . Thus the vowel system of the Secunda was /a e eː o oː iː uː ə/.
The later Jewish traditions (Tiberian, Babylonian, Palestinian) show similar vowel developments. By the Tiberian time, all short vowels in stressed syllables and open pretonic lengthened, making vowel length allophonic.In fact, first all stressed vowels were lengthened in pause, see . This can be seen by forms like Tiberian כַּף /kaf/ < */kaf/, pausal כָּף /kɔf/ < */kɔːf/ < */kaːf/ < */kaf/. The shift in Tiberian Hebrew of */aː/ > */ɔː/ occurred after this lengthening, but before the loss of phonemicity of length (since words like ירחם with allophonically long [aː] don't show this shift). Vowels in open or stressed syllables had allophonic length (e.g. /a/ in יְרַחֵם, which was previously short).This is attested to by the testimony of Rabbi Joseph Qimḥi (12th century) and by medieval Arabic transcriptions, see . There is also possible evidence from the cantillation marks' behavior and Babylonian pataḥ, see . The Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations systems also do not mark vowel length. In the Tiberian and Babylonian systems, */aː/ and lengthened */a/ become the back vowel /ɔ/. In unaccented closed syllables, */i u/ become /ɛ~i ɔ~u/ (Tiberian) /a~i u/ (Babylonian) /e~i o~u/ (Palestinian) – generally becoming the second vowel before geminates (e.g. לִבִּי) and the first otherwise.The Palestinian reflexes of Tiberian /ɔ/ (/a/ and /o/) thus reflect the qamatz gadol-qamatz qatan distinction. In the Tiberian tradition pretonic vowels are reduced more commonly than in the Secunda. It does not occur for /*a/, but is occasional for /*i/ (e.g. מסמְרים 'nails' < */masmiriːm/), and is common for /*u/ (e.g. רְחוֹב 'open place' < */ruħaːb/). In Tiberian Hebrew pretonic /*u/ is most commonly preserved by geminating the following consonant, e.g. אדֻמּים 'red (pl.)'; this pretonic gemination is also found in some forms with other vowels like אַסִּיר~אָסִיר 'prisoner'.
The Babylonian and Palestinian systems have only one reduced vowel phoneme /ə/ like the Secunda, though in Palestinian Hebrew it developed the pronunciation [ɛ]. However the Tiberian tradition possesses three reduced vowels /ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/ of which /ɛ̆/ has questionable phonemicity.See אֳנִי /ɔ̆ni/ 'ships' אֲנִי /ăni/ 'I', חֳלִי /ħɔ̆li/ 'sickness' חֲלִי /ħăli/ 'ornament', עֲלִי /ʕăli/ 'ascend!' (Num 21:17) and בַּעֱלִי /baʕɛ̆li/ '(with the) pestle' (Prov 27:22). /ɛ̆/ alternates with /ă/ frequently and rarely contrasts with it, e.g. אֱדוֹם /ʔɛ̆ðom/ 'Edom
' versus אֲדֹמִי /ʔăðomi/ 'Edomite'. /ɔ̆/ is clearly phonemic but bears minimal functional load
. /ă/ is written both with mobile šwa <ְ> and hataf patah <ֲ>. /ă/ under a non-guttural letter was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel before a guttural, e.g. וּבָקְעָה [uvɔqɔ̆ˈʕɔ], and as [ĭ] preceding /j/, e.g. תְדֵמְּיוּ֫נִי [θăðammĭˈjuni], but was always pronounced as [ă] under gutturals, e.g. . When reduced, etymological */a i u/ become /ă ɛ̆~ă ɔ̆/ under gutturals (e.g. אֲמרתם 'you (mp.) said" cf. אָמר 'he said'), and generally /ă/ under non-gutturals, but */u/ > /ɔ̆/ (and rarely */i/ > /ɛ̆/) may still occur, especially after stops (or their spirantized counterparts) and /sʼ ʃ/ (e.g. דֳּמִי /dɔ̆mi/). Samaritan and Qumran Hebrew have full vowels in place of the reduced vowels of Tiberian Hebrew.
Samaritan Hebrew also does not reflect etymological vowel length; however the elision of guttural consonants has created new phonemic vowel length, e.g. /rɒb/ רב 'great' vs. /rɒːb/ רחב 'wide'. Samaritan Hebrew vowels are allophonically lengthened (to a lesser degree) in open syllables, e.g. המצרי [ammisˤriˑ], היא [iˑ], though this is less strong in post-tonic vowels. Pretonic gemination is also found in Samaritan Hebrew, but not always in the same locations as in Tiberian Hebrew, e.g. גמלים TH /gămalːim/ SH /gɒmɒləm/; שלמים TH /ʃălɔmim/ SH /ʃelamːəm/. While Proto-Hebrew long vowels usually retain their vowel quality in the later traditions of Hebrew, in Samaritan Hebrew */iː/ may have reflex /e/ in closed stressed syllables, e.g. דין /den/, */aː/ may become either /a/ or /ɒ/, and */oː/ > /u/. The reduced vowels of the other traditions appear as full vowels, though there may be evidence that Samaritan Hebrew once had similar vowel reduction. Samaritan /ə/ results from the neutralization of the distinction between /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. /bit/ בית 'house' /abbət/ הבית 'the house' /ger/ גר /aggər/ .
Various more specific conditioned shifts of vowel quality have also occurred. Diphthongs were frequently monopthongized, but the scope and results of this shift varied dialectually. In particular, the Samaria ostraca show /jeːn/ < */jajn/ for Southern /jajin/ 'wine', and Samaritan Hebrew shows instead the shift */aj/ > /iː/. Original */u/ tended to shift to /i/ (e.g. אֹמֶר and אִמְרָה 'word'; חוץ 'outside' and חיצון 'outer') beginning in the second half of the second millennium BCE. This was carried through completely in Samaritan Hebrew but met more resistance in other traditions such as the Babylonian and Qumran traditions. Philippi's law is the process by which original */i/ in closed stressed syllables shifts to /a/ (e,g, *bint > בַּת /bat/ 'daughter'), or sometimes in the Tiberian tradition /ɛ/ (e.g. /*ʔamint/ > אֱמֶת /ɛ̆mɛt/ 'truth').Note that this /a/ does not become /ɔ/ in pause, thus בת has a patah vowel in pause as well as in context. This is absent in the transcriptions of the Secunda, but there is evidence that the law's onset predates the Secunda. In the Samaritan tradition Philippi's law is applied consistently, e.g. */libː-u/ > /lab/ 'heart'.The only known case where Philippi's Law does not apply is in the word קן /qen/ < */qinn-u/ 'nest'. The shift */i/ > /a/ has been extended by analogy to similar forms, e.g. */ʃim-u/ > /ʃam/ 'name' (but */ʃim-u/ > /ʃem/ 'reputation'!). In some traditions the short vowel /*a/ tended to shift to /i/ in unstressed closed syllables: this is known as the law of attenuation. It is common in the Tiberian tradition, e.g. */ʃabʕat/ > Tiberian שִבְעָה /ʃivˈʕɔ/ 'seven', but exceptions are frequent. It is less common in the Babylonian vocalization, e.g. /ʃabʕɔ/ 'seven', and differences in Greek and Latin transcriptions demonstrate that it began quite late. Attenuation generally did not occur before /i~e/, e.g. Tiberian מַפְתֵחַ /mafˈteaħ/ 'key' versus מִפְתַח /mifˈtaħ/ 'opening (construct)', and often was blocked before a geminate, e.g. מתנה 'gift'. Attenuation is rarely present in Samaritan Hebrew, e.g. מקדש /maqdaʃ/.Verbal forms such as יפקד = Samaritan /jifqɒd/ < */jafqud/ may be examples of Barth's law rather than attenuation. In the Tiberian tradition /e i o u/ take offglide /a/ before /h ħ ʕ/.This is known as 'pataḥ furtivum', literally 'stolen pataḥ' and perhaps a mistranslation of Hebrew פתח גנובה 'pataḥ of the stolen [letter]', as if אֵ were being inserted. See This is absent in the Secunda and in Samaritan Hebrew but present in the transcriptions of Jerome. In the Tiberian tradition an ultrashort echo vowel
is sometimes added to clusters where the first element is a guttural, e.g. יַאֲזִין /jaʔăzin/ 'he will listen' פָּעֳלוֹ /pɔʕɔ̆lo/ 'his work' but יַאְדִּיר 'he will make glorious' רָחְבּוֹ /rɔħbo/ 'its breadth'.It is evident that this epenthesis must have been a late phenomenon, since a short vowel preceding a guttural is preserved even though it becomes in an open syllable, see .This is less common when the consonant following the guttural is a beged kefet letter, e.g. תֵּחְבֹּל /taħbol/ 'you take in pledge'. This suggests that beged kefet spirantization was no longer automatic by the time that this epenthesis occurred, see
The following charts summarize the most common reflexes of the Proto-Semitic vowels in the various stages of Hebrew:
Biblical Hebrew language
Biblical Hebrew , also called Classical Hebrew , is the archaic form of the Hebrew language, a Canaanite Semitic language spoken in the area known as Canaan between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Biblical Hebrew is attested from about the 10th century BCE, and persisted through...
. It is reconstructed as follows:
Consonants
Consonants lost and gained during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew are color-coded respectively.| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Dental/ Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... / Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
Pharyn- geal Pharyngeal consonant A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | |||||||||
| Stops Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of... |
p | t | k | ʔ | ||||||
| voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
b | d | ɡ | ||||||||
| emphatic Emphatic consonant Emphatic consonant is a term widely used in Semitic linguistics to describe one of a series of obstruent consonants which originally contrasted with series of both voiced and voiceless obstruents. In specific Semitic languages, the members of this series may be realized as pharyngealized,... |
tʼ | kʼ/q | |||||||||
| Fricatives Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of... |
(f) | (θ) | s | ɬ | ʃ | (x) | χ | ħ | h | |
| voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
(v) | (ð) | z | (ɣ) | ʁ | ʕ | |||||
| emphatic Emphatic consonant Emphatic consonant is a term widely used in Semitic linguistics to describe one of a series of obstruent consonants which originally contrasted with series of both voiced and voiceless obstruents. In specific Semitic languages, the members of this series may be realized as pharyngealized,... |
sʼ | ||||||||||
| Approximants Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
w | l | j | ||||||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | ||||||||||
The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so called "emphatics" were likely ejective, but possibly pharyngealized or velarized. Some argue that /s, z, sʼ/ were affricated (/ts, dz, tsʼ/).
Originally, the Hebrew letters ח and ע each had two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However the uvular phonemes /χ/ ח and /ʁ/ ע merged with their pharyngeal ones /ħ/ ח and /ʕ/ ע respectively c. 200 BCE. This is observed by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
= versus Rachel
Rachel
Rachel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is a prophet and the favorite wife of Jacob, one of the three Biblical Patriarchs, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob's first wife...
= ), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in Ezra and Nehemiah.
The phoneme /ɬ/, also unmarked by Hebrew orthography, is attested by internal and comparative evidence; in particular it is preserved as a lateral fricative in Modern South Arabian dialects. /ɬ/ began merging with /s/ in Late Biblical Hebrew, as indicated by interchange of orthographic ‹ש› and ‹ס›, possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and this became the rule in Mishnaic Hebrew. In all Jewish reading traditions /ɬ/ and /s/ have merged completely; however in Samaritan Hebrew /ɬ/ has instead merged with /ʃ/.
Allophonic spirantization of /b ɡ d k p t/ to [v ɣ ð x f θ] (known as begadkefat
Begadkefat
Begadkefat is the name given to a phenomenon of spirantization affecting most plosive consonants of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic when they are preceded by a vowel and not geminated...
spirantization) developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic.Or perhaps Hurrian
Hurrian language
Hurrian is a conventional name for the language of the Hurrians , a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly vanished by 1000 BC. Hurrian was the language of the Mitanni kingdom in northern Mesopotamia, and was likely spoken at least initially in Hurrian settlements in...
, but this is unlikely See . This probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes /θ, ð/ disappeared in the 7th century BCE, and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BCE.According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of /χ, ʁ/ and /ħ, ʕ/, or else [x, χ] and [ɣ, ʁ] would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However Blau argues that it is possible that lenited /k/ and /χ/ could coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian Syriac). See . It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE. After a certain point this alternation became marginally phonemic in word-medial and final position, but in word-initial position they remained allophonic. This is evidenced both by the Tiberian vocalization's consistent use of word-initial spirants after a vowel in sandhi, as well as Rabbi Saadia Gaon
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
's attestation to the use of this alternation in Tiberian Aramaic at the beginning of the 10th century CE.
The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/, e.g. חמר ħmr for Masoretic אָמַר /ʔɔˈmar/ 'he said'. However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal. Confusion of gutturals was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, /ʔ ħ h ʕ/ have generally all merged, either into /ʔ/, a glide, or null, often creating a long vowel, except that original /ʕ ħ/ sometimes have reflex /ʕ/ before /a ɒ/.
Geminate consonants are phonemically contrastive in Biblical Hebrew. In the Secunda /w j z/ are never geminate. In the Tiberian tradition /ħ ʕ h ʔ r/ cannot be geminate; historically first /r ʔ/ degeminated, followed by /ʕ/, /h/, and finally /ħ/, as evidenced by changes in the quality of the preceding vowel.The vowel before originally geminate /r ʔ/ usually shows compensatory lengthening, e.g. הָאָב /hɔˈʔɔv/ 'the father' < /*haʔːab/; with /ʕ/ preceding /*i/ tends to remain short; with /h/ original /*a/ also remains short, and /ħ/ generally does not cause compensatory lengthening, e.g. יְרַחֵם 'he will have compassion'. See
Vowels
The vowel system of Biblical Hebrew has changed considerably over time. The following vowels are those reconstructed for the earliest stage of Hebrew, those attested by the Secunda, those of the various vocalization traditions (TiberianTiberian vocalization
The Tiberian vocalization is a system of diacritics devised by the Masoretes to add to the consonantal Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; this system soon became used to vocalize other texts as well...
and varieties of Babylonian
Babylonian vocalization
The Babylonian vocalization is a system of diacritics devised by the Masoretes to add to the consonantal Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to indicate vowel quality, reflecting the Hebrew of Babylon...
and Palestinian
Palestinian vocalization
The Palestinian vocalization is a system of diacritics devised by the Masoretes to add to the consonantal Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to indicate vowel quality, reflecting the Hebrew of Palestine...
), and those of the Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded
| Proto-Hebrew | Secunda Hebrew | Tiberian, Babylonian, and Palestinian Hebrew | Samaritan Hebrew | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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ass="wikitable"> | Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
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| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Close-mid Close-mid vowel A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel... |
e | o | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open-mid Open-mid vowel An open-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from an open vowel to a mid vowel... |
ɛ1 | ɔ2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reduced | ă3 ɔ̆3 (ɛ̆)3 ə3 |
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| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
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| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i iː | u uː |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e eː | (o)1 |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a aː | ɒ ɒː |
| Reduced | (ə)2 | |
- possibly pronounced [æ], as the orthography alternates <α> and <ε>
Proto-Semitic likely had a vowel system with three qualities and two lengths, i.e. */a aː i iː u uː/, where the long vowels only occurred in open syllables. Later, final unstressed short vowels dropped out in some words, making it possible for long vowels to occur in closed syllables. Hebrew shows the Canaanite shift
Canaanite shift
In historical linguistics, the Canaanite shift is a sound change that took place in the Canaanite dialects, which belong to the Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages family. This sound change caused Proto-NW-Semitic *ā to turn into ō in Proto-Canaanite...
whereby */aː/ often shifted to /oː/); the conditions of this shift are disputed.In fact, its scope of application is different in Samaritan and Tiberian Hebrew (e.g. פה 'here' Tiberian /po/ vs. Samaritan /fa/), see . Even in Tiberian Hebrew doublets are found, e.g. /kʼanːo(ʔ?)/ = /kʼanːɔ(ʔ?)/ 'zealous'. See This shift had occurred by the 14th century BCE, as demonstrated by its presence in the Amarna letters
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom...
(c. 1365 BCE). The Proto-Hebrew vowel system is thus reconstructed as */a aː oː i iː u uː/ (and possibly rare */eː/).
The short vowels */a i u/ tended to lengthen in various positions: first in pretonic position in an open syllable, and later in stressed open syllables.This relative chronology is established by forms like קָטְלוּ (Secunda: /qaːtʼəˈluː/), originating from */qaˈtʼaluː/. The first vowel */a/ first lengthened because it was in a pretonic syllable, yielding */qaːˈtʼaluː/. By a later development, stressed short vowels in an open syllables were reduced and lost the stress, yielding /qaːtʼəˈluː/. See .Parallels to Aramaic syllable structure suggest pretonic lengthening may have occurred in the Second Temple period. See In the Secunda, their lengthened reflexes are /aː eː oː/; when kept short they generally have reflexes /a e o/.Long /aː eː oː/ were written as ‹α η ω›, while short /a e o/ were written ‹α/ε ε ο›. This length distinction is also found in the LXX. See , , and In the Secunda /*a *i *u/ are preserved as short in originally closed syllables and in the third syllable before the stress. See */a i u/ were reduced to /ə/ in the second syllable before the stress, in stressed open syllables (e.g. קטלו /qaːtʼəˈluː/ < */qaˈtʼaluː/), and occasionally reduced rather than lengthened in pretonic position (e.g. σεμω = שמו).The Secunda also has a few cases of pretonic gemination. See . Thus the vowel system of the Secunda was /a e eː o oː iː uː ə/.
The later Jewish traditions (Tiberian, Babylonian, Palestinian) show similar vowel developments. By the Tiberian time, all short vowels in stressed syllables and open pretonic lengthened, making vowel length allophonic.In fact, first all stressed vowels were lengthened in pause, see . This can be seen by forms like Tiberian כַּף /kaf/ < */kaf/, pausal כָּף /kɔf/ < */kɔːf/ < */kaːf/ < */kaf/. The shift in Tiberian Hebrew of */aː/ > */ɔː/ occurred after this lengthening, but before the loss of phonemicity of length (since words like ירחם with allophonically long [aː] don't show this shift). Vowels in open or stressed syllables had allophonic length (e.g. /a/ in יְרַחֵם, which was previously short).This is attested to by the testimony of Rabbi Joseph Qimḥi (12th century) and by medieval Arabic transcriptions, see . There is also possible evidence from the cantillation marks' behavior and Babylonian pataḥ, see . The Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations systems also do not mark vowel length. In the Tiberian and Babylonian systems, */aː/ and lengthened */a/ become the back vowel /ɔ/. In unaccented closed syllables, */i u/ become /ɛ~i ɔ~u/ (Tiberian) /a~i u/ (Babylonian) /e~i o~u/ (Palestinian) – generally becoming the second vowel before geminates (e.g. לִבִּי) and the first otherwise.The Palestinian reflexes of Tiberian /ɔ/ (/a/ and /o/) thus reflect the qamatz gadol-qamatz qatan distinction. In the Tiberian tradition pretonic vowels are reduced more commonly than in the Secunda. It does not occur for /*a/, but is occasional for /*i/ (e.g. מסמְרים 'nails' < */masmiriːm/), and is common for /*u/ (e.g. רְחוֹב 'open place' < */ruħaːb/). In Tiberian Hebrew pretonic /*u/ is most commonly preserved by geminating the following consonant, e.g. אדֻמּים 'red (pl.)'; this pretonic gemination is also found in some forms with other vowels like אַסִּיר~אָסִיר 'prisoner'.
The Babylonian and Palestinian systems have only one reduced vowel phoneme /ə/ like the Secunda, though in Palestinian Hebrew it developed the pronunciation [ɛ]. However the Tiberian tradition possesses three reduced vowels /ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/ of which /ɛ̆/ has questionable phonemicity.See אֳנִי /ɔ̆ni/ 'ships' אֲנִי /ăni/ 'I', חֳלִי /ħɔ̆li/ 'sickness' חֲלִי /ħăli/ 'ornament', עֲלִי /ʕăli/ 'ascend!' (Num 21:17) and בַּעֱלִי /baʕɛ̆li/ '(with the) pestle' (Prov 27:22). /ɛ̆/ alternates with /ă/ frequently and rarely contrasts with it, e.g. אֱדוֹם /ʔɛ̆ðom/ 'Edom
Edom
Edom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
' versus אֲדֹמִי /ʔăðomi/ 'Edomite'. /ɔ̆/ is clearly phonemic but bears minimal functional load
Functional load
In linguistics and especially phonology, functional load refers to the importance of certain features in making distinctions in a language...
. /ă/ is written both with mobile šwa <ְ> and hataf patah <ֲ>. /ă/ under a non-guttural letter was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel before a guttural, e.g. וּבָקְעָה [uvɔqɔ̆ˈʕɔ], and as [ĭ] preceding /j/, e.g. תְדֵמְּיוּ֫נִי [θăðammĭˈjuni], but was always pronounced as [ă] under gutturals, e.g. . When reduced, etymological */a i u/ become /ă ɛ̆~ă ɔ̆/ under gutturals (e.g. אֲמרתם 'you (mp.) said" cf. אָמר 'he said'), and generally /ă/ under non-gutturals, but */u/ > /ɔ̆/ (and rarely */i/ > /ɛ̆/) may still occur, especially after stops (or their spirantized counterparts) and /sʼ ʃ/ (e.g. דֳּמִי /dɔ̆mi/). Samaritan and Qumran Hebrew have full vowels in place of the reduced vowels of Tiberian Hebrew.
Samaritan Hebrew also does not reflect etymological vowel length; however the elision of guttural consonants has created new phonemic vowel length, e.g. /rɒb/ רב 'great' vs. /rɒːb/ רחב 'wide'. Samaritan Hebrew vowels are allophonically lengthened (to a lesser degree) in open syllables, e.g. המצרי [ammisˤriˑ], היא [iˑ], though this is less strong in post-tonic vowels. Pretonic gemination is also found in Samaritan Hebrew, but not always in the same locations as in Tiberian Hebrew, e.g. גמלים TH /gămalːim/ SH /gɒmɒləm/; שלמים TH /ʃălɔmim/ SH /ʃelamːəm/. While Proto-Hebrew long vowels usually retain their vowel quality in the later traditions of Hebrew, in Samaritan Hebrew */iː/ may have reflex /e/ in closed stressed syllables, e.g. דין /den/, */aː/ may become either /a/ or /ɒ/, and */oː/ > /u/. The reduced vowels of the other traditions appear as full vowels, though there may be evidence that Samaritan Hebrew once had similar vowel reduction. Samaritan /ə/ results from the neutralization of the distinction between /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. /bit/ בית 'house' /abbət/ הבית 'the house' /ger/ גר /aggər/ .
Various more specific conditioned shifts of vowel quality have also occurred. Diphthongs were frequently monopthongized, but the scope and results of this shift varied dialectually. In particular, the Samaria ostraca show /jeːn/ < */jajn/ for Southern /jajin/ 'wine', and Samaritan Hebrew shows instead the shift */aj/ > /iː/. Original */u/ tended to shift to /i/ (e.g. אֹמֶר and אִמְרָה 'word'; חוץ 'outside' and חיצון 'outer') beginning in the second half of the second millennium BCE. This was carried through completely in Samaritan Hebrew but met more resistance in other traditions such as the Babylonian and Qumran traditions. Philippi's law is the process by which original */i/ in closed stressed syllables shifts to /a/ (e,g, *bint > בַּת /bat/ 'daughter'), or sometimes in the Tiberian tradition /ɛ/ (e.g. /*ʔamint/ > אֱמֶת /ɛ̆mɛt/ 'truth').Note that this /a/ does not become /ɔ/ in pause, thus בת has a patah vowel in pause as well as in context. This is absent in the transcriptions of the Secunda, but there is evidence that the law's onset predates the Secunda. In the Samaritan tradition Philippi's law is applied consistently, e.g. */libː-u/ > /lab/ 'heart'.The only known case where Philippi's Law does not apply is in the word קן /qen/ < */qinn-u/ 'nest'. The shift */i/ > /a/ has been extended by analogy to similar forms, e.g. */ʃim-u/ > /ʃam/ 'name' (but */ʃim-u/ > /ʃem/ 'reputation'!). In some traditions the short vowel /*a/ tended to shift to /i/ in unstressed closed syllables: this is known as the law of attenuation. It is common in the Tiberian tradition, e.g. */ʃabʕat/ > Tiberian שִבְעָה /ʃivˈʕɔ/ 'seven', but exceptions are frequent. It is less common in the Babylonian vocalization, e.g. /ʃabʕɔ/ 'seven', and differences in Greek and Latin transcriptions demonstrate that it began quite late. Attenuation generally did not occur before /i~e/, e.g. Tiberian מַפְתֵחַ /mafˈteaħ/ 'key' versus מִפְתַח /mifˈtaħ/ 'opening (construct)', and often was blocked before a geminate, e.g. מתנה 'gift'. Attenuation is rarely present in Samaritan Hebrew, e.g. מקדש /maqdaʃ/.Verbal forms such as יפקד = Samaritan /jifqɒd/ < */jafqud/ may be examples of Barth's law rather than attenuation. In the Tiberian tradition /e i o u/ take offglide /a/ before /h ħ ʕ/.This is known as 'pataḥ furtivum', literally 'stolen pataḥ' and perhaps a mistranslation of Hebrew פתח גנובה 'pataḥ of the stolen [letter]', as if אֵ were being inserted. See This is absent in the Secunda and in Samaritan Hebrew but present in the transcriptions of Jerome. In the Tiberian tradition an ultrashort echo vowel
Echo vowel
In speech, an echo vowel is a vowel that repeats the final vowel in a word. For example, in Chumash, when a word ends with a glottal stop and comes at the end of an intonation unit, the final vowel is repeated after the glottal stop, but is whispered and faint, as in for "arrow" . In Rukai , echo...
is sometimes added to clusters where the first element is a guttural, e.g. יַאֲזִין /jaʔăzin/ 'he will listen' פָּעֳלוֹ /pɔʕɔ̆lo/ 'his work' but יַאְדִּיר 'he will make glorious' רָחְבּוֹ /rɔħbo/ 'its breadth'.It is evident that this epenthesis must have been a late phenomenon, since a short vowel preceding a guttural is preserved even though it becomes in an open syllable, see .This is less common when the consonant following the guttural is a beged kefet letter, e.g. תֵּחְבֹּל /taħbol/ 'you take in pledge'. This suggests that beged kefet spirantization was no longer automatic by the time that this epenthesis occurred, see
The following charts summarize the most common reflexes of the Proto-Semitic vowels in the various stages of Hebrew:
| Proto-Semitic | Proto-Hebrew | Secunda | Tiberian | Babylonian | Palestinian | Samaritan1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *aː | *aː | aː | ɔ | o | a, ɒ | |
| *oː | oː | o | u | |||
| *iː | *iː | iː | i | e, i | ||
| *uː | *uː | uː | u | o, u4 | ||
| Proto-Semitic | Proto-Hebrew | "lengthened"5 | "reduced"6 | word-final | otherwise7 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sc | T | B | P | Sm1 | Sc | T | B | P | Sm1 | Sc | T | B | P | Sm1 | Sc | T | B | P | Sm1 | ||
| *a | *a | aː | ɔ | a | a, ɒ | ə | ă | ə | *9 | Ø | a | a, i2 | a, ɒ | ||||||||
| *i | *i | eː | e | ə | ă, ɛ̆ | ə | *9 | e | ɛ, i8, a3 | e, i8, a3 | e, i, a3 | ||||||||||
| *u | *u | oː | o | a, ɒ, i | ə | ă, ɔ̆ | ə | *9 | o | ɔ, u8 | o, u8 | a, ɒ, i | |||||||||
- Samaritan vowels may be lengthened in the presence of etymological guttural consonants. /ə/ results from both /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables.
- under the conditions of the law of attenuation
- under the conditions of Phillipi's law
- Samaritan /o u/ are nearly in complementary distribution (/o/ in open syllables, /u/ in closed syllables)
- lengthening occurs in some open pretonic syllables and some stressed syllables; precise conditions depend on the vowel and on the tradition
- reduction occurs in the open syllables two syllables away from the stress and sometimes also in pretonic and stressed open syllables
- effectively in most closed syllables
- more common before geminate consonants
- Samaritan Hebrew has full vowels when the other traditions have reduced vowels, but these do not always correlate with their Proto-Hebrew ancestors