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[edit] liason
[‿ a‿i]
[edit] Hebrew phonology
[edit] Consonants
Below are the consonants of modern General Israeli Hebrew. For each sound, its Hebrew orthography, its phonemic transliteration and its pronunciation are displayed in the following format:
The letters which may receive the diacritic dagesh kal (ב, ג, ד, כ, פ, ת) are listed with and without the dagesh as separate phonemes[1].
Where two phonemic transliterations are possible, namely a generic vs. a strict tranliteration, the strict transliteration follows the generic one in parentheses[2]:
Where a Hebrew letter has an additional word-final form, it is displayed after (to the left of) its regular form, separated from it by a comma:
- ^ Note that Bet / Vet (ב / בּ), Kaf / Khaf (כ / כּ) and Pe / Fe (פ / פּ) still represent each two separate phonemes in modern Hebrew, whereas Gimel (ג / גּ), Daled (ד / דּ) and Taf (ת / תּ) each represent only one phoneme in modern Hebrew. The pairs (/b/, /v/), (/k/, /x/), (/p/, /f/), written respectively by the letters bet (ב), kaf (כ) and pe (פ) have historically been allophonic. In Modern Hebrew, however, all six sounds are phonemic, due to mergers involving formerly distinct sounds (/v/ merging with /w/, /k/ merging with /q/, /x/ merging with /ħ/), loss of consonant gemination (which formerly distinguished the stop members of the pairs from the fricatives when intervocalic), and the introduction of syllable-initial /f/ through foreign borrowings.
- ^ Some historically distinctive Hebrew phonemes have merged in modern Hebrew, such are historically distinctive /t/, /ṯ/, /ṭ/), written respectively by the letters Tav (תּ), Ṯav (ת) and Ṭet (ט), in modern Israeli Hebrew all pronounced [t]. For these cases, the Academy of the Hebrew Language suggests two tranliteration sets, a generic one, reflecting modern phonology, and a strict one, reflecting the orthographic distinctions, which are still in use, and the historical phonology. See transliteration rules set by the Academy of the Hebrew Language.
- ^ a b c d The Voiced labial-velar approximant [w] and postalveolar sounds (with the exception of [ʃ]) are not native to Hebrew, and only found in borrowings.
- ^ idiolectally sometimes a uvular trill [ʀ], common among non native speakers also as an alveolar trill [r] or tap [ɾ].
- Further information: Dagesh
- The phoneme /v/ is represented by two letters: vet (ב, unemphasized bet) and vav (ו). Although modern Hebrew pronunciation does not differentiate between the two, the latter is historically weaker due to its being a semi-vowel (/w/).
- The phoneme /k/ is represented by two letters: kaf (כ) and quf (ק). Although modern Israeli Hebrew pronunciation doesn't differentiate between the two, the latter is pronounced by some speakers as in Arabic /q/.
- The phoneme /t/ is represented by two letters: tet (ט) and tav (ת). The tet was historically pronounced with pharyngealization (as in Arabic) or as an ejective (often, but misleadingly, called "emphasis"). The letter tav, when intervocalic and non-doubled (i.e. without dagesh) represented a fricative [θ]. For example, what in Modern Hebrew is /bet ˈleχem/ (or /bejt ˈleχem/) was transcribed (through Greek, which is ill-equipped to represent /ħ/) into English from Old Hebrew as "Bethleem", also demonstrating note number 5. The traditional Ashkenazi pronunciation of tau without dagesh as "s" is a continuation of this former distinction.
- In old Hebrew the צ (/ʦ/) was, like ט, pharyngealized or ejective ("emphasis"). Currently, the only community of Hebrew-speakers which expresses this in speech are Yemenite Jews, whose Hebrew did not lose them, as other communities did under the influence of Yiddish and other European languages); however the emphasis led to several types of phonetic change that still exist. The exact nature of the emphatic feature is a matter of debate; the most commonly suggested possibilities are pharyngealization (as in Arabic) and glottalization (or the ejective mechanism) (as in the Ethiopian Semitic languages).
- In the speech of most modern Hebrew speakers, the phoneme /χ/ is represented by two letters: het (ח) and khaf (כ). Het is presumed to historically have been a voiceless pharyngeal fricative (like Arabic ح). The voiceless pharyngeal fricative pronunciation [ħ] is found in the speech of many Teimanim, Mizrachim and Sephardim, who, like Ashkenazim, pronounce khaf as /x/.
[edit] Vowels
The Hebrew word for vowels is tnu'ot (תְּנוּעוֹת). The orthographic representations for these vowels are called Niqqud. Israeli Hebrew has 5 vowel phonemes, represented by the following Niqqud-signs:
| Phoneme |
Pronunciation in
Modern Hebrew |
Approximate pronunciation
in English |
Orthographic representation |
| "Long" * |
"Short" * |
"Very short" / "interrupted" * |
| /a/ |
[ä] or [ɑ̈]
(between
[a] and [ɑ]) |
(as in "spa") |
kamats (ָ) |
patach (ַ) |
chataf patach (ֲ) |
| /e/ |
[ɛ̝] or [e̞]
(between
[e] and [ɛ]) |
(as in "café") |
tsere male (ֵי)or tsere chaser (ֵ) |
segol (ֶ) |
chataf segol (ֱ), sometimes shva (ְ) |
| /i/ |
[i] |
(as in "ski") |
khirik male (ִי) |
khirik chaser (ִ) |
|
| /o/ |
[ɔ̝] or [o̞]
(between
[o] and [ɔ] |
(as in "go") |
kholam male (וֹ) or kholam chaser (ֹ) |
kamatz katan (ָ) |
chataf kamatz (ֳ) |
| /u/ |
[u] |
(as in "flu") |
shuruk (וּ) |
kubuts (ֻ) |
|
| * The severalfold orthographic representation of each phoneme attests to the broader phonemic range of vowels in earlier forms of Hebrew. Some linguists still regard the Hebrew grammatical entity of Shva na—marked as Shva (ְ)—as representing a sixth phoneme, /ə/, however the phonetic realisation of any Shva in modern Hebrew is never a Schwa (the mid central vowel denoted as [ə]) or any vowel otherwise phonetically distinguishable from the other phonemes, but is rather always either identical to those of the phoneme /e/ or is mute, therefore there is no consensus in this matter. |
In Biblical Hebrew, each vowel had three forms: short, long and interrupted (khataf). However, there is no audible distinction between the three in modern Israeli Hebrew, except that tsere is often pronounced /eɪ/ as in Ashkenazi Hebrew.
The Hebrew Niqqud sign "Shva" represents four grammatical entities: resting (nakh / נָח), moving (na' / נָע), floating (merahef / מְרַחֵף) and "bleating" or "bellowing" ('ge'iya' / גְּעִיָּה). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable. However, the phonolgy of Modern Hebrew has produced two phonetic variants of Shva, either [ɛ̝] or mute, which no longer confirm to the traditional classification, e.g. the (first) Shva Nach in the word קִמַּטְתְ (fem. you crumpled) is pronounced [ɛ̝] ([ki'matɛ̝t]) instead of being mute, whereas the Shva Na in זְמַן (time) is mute ([zman]).
[edit] Orthography
| Spelling of the Hebrew vowels |
Vowel Length
(historical classification) |
IPA |
Transliteration |
English
Approximation |
| Long |
Short |
Very Short |
| ָ |
ַ |
ֲ |
[a] |
a |
far |
| ֵ |
ֶ |
ֱ |
[ɛ] |
e |
temp |
| וֹ |
ָ |
ֳ |
[ɔ] |
o |
coke |
| וּ |
ֻ |
n/a |
[u] |
u |
put |
| יִ |
ִ |
[i] |
i |
ski |
| Note Ⅰ: |
By adding two vertical dots (sh'va) ְ
the vowel is historically classified as "very short". |
| Note Ⅱ: |
The short o and long a have the same niqqud. |
| Note Ⅲ: |
The short o is usually promoted to a long o
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
| Note Ⅳ: |
The short u is usually promoted to a long u
in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
[edit] Stress
Hebrew has two main kinds of stress: on the last syllable (milra‘) and on the penultimate syllable (the one preceding the last, mil‘el). The former is more frequent. The stress has phonemic value, e.g. "ילד", when pronouced ['jɛlɛd], means "boy", whereas when pronouced [jɛ'lɛd] it means "will give birth to". Specific rules connect the location of the stress with the length of the vowels in the last syllable. However, due to the fact that Israeli Hebrew does not distinguish phonetically between long and short vowels, these rules are not evident in everyday speech. They usually cannot be inferred from written text either, since usually vowels are not marked. The rules that specify the vowel length are different for verbs and nouns, which influences the stress; thus the mil‘el-stressed ókhel (="food") and milra‘-stressed okhèl (="eats", masculine) differ only in the length of the vowels (and are written identically if vowels are not marked). Little ambiguity exists, however, due to nouns and verbs having incompatible roles in normal sentences. This is, however, also true in English, in, for example, the English word "conduct," in its nominal and verbal forms.
Biblical Hebrew had only these two stress patterns. Modern Hebrew, however, has a moderate number of words which are neither milra nor mil‘el, but are stressed on the antepenult or even further back. These are mostly borrowings, e.g. ótobus 'bus', though a handful are native Hebrew words with an added clitic, e.g. míshehu 'someone' (mi 'who' plus shehu '-ever, any').
[edit] cholam chaser
| one two three |
אחת שתיים שלוש |
| one two three |
אחת שתיים שלוש |
| one two three |
אחת שתיים שלוש |
| one two three |
אחת שתיים שלוש |
