Reading and vowels in Hebrew. Is it possible to read without vowels? Learning to read using vowels Knowledge of grammatical forms

Five of which look different at the end of words. Remember that these letters cannot be pronounced because they are consonants. Trying to articulate them, you will pronounce the consonants of the English alphabet. Now let me introduce you to the Hebrew alphabet... in alphabetical order;

• א Aleph. Perhaps the simplest sound in “alefbit”. Why? It's silent! To make it sound, you need to put a vowel next to it. Often the aleph can be found at the end of a word, where it is silent. Its analogy can be called “E” from English, which also appears at the end in a silent version in many words.
• Bet (בּ) and vet (ב). It seems that these are two different letters representing two different sounds, but in fact they are the same letter. Bet has a point, vet doesn't. Beth creates a "B" sound, but without the added vowel it may remain silent. Vet creates the sound "V" and requires a vowel to be articulated.
• ג Gimel. Since bet and vet are one letter, Gimel is considered the third letter of Hebrew. It has the sound “G”, as in the word “city”, and nothing else. This should be remembered, but one should not lose sight of the fact that sometimes a gimel is found with an apostrophe, and then its pronunciation changes to “J”.
• ד Dalet. It won’t be difficult to guess, because the sound “D” is also “D” in Hebrew. Like many other Hebrew sounds, it requires a vowel to be pronounced.
• ה Hey. Responsible for the sound "X". Please note that this letter does not form anything similar to the English sound “CH”, as in the word “chewy”. Often this letter can be found at the end of words, like aleph.
• ו Vav. Vav and vet sound the same, just vav is spelled differently.
• ז Zain. The sound “Z” is hidden behind this letter.
• ח Heth. Cheth is one of the most famous Hebrew letters. She is also responsible for the sound “X”, but hers is more guttural than Hei’s. Roughly speaking, het is a growl that originates in the throat... only a little softer. Please note that this letter does not form anything similar to the English sound “CH”, as in the word “chewy”.
• ט Tet. It is probably already clear that behind this letter lies the sound “T”. Also remember that this letter never makes anything like the English "TH" sound.
• י Yud. This letter has the following sound - “th” (or “i”, but less often). The rule is this: if this letter is in the middle of a word, then it is read more like “and”.
• Kaf (כּ),(כ),(ךּ),(ך). One of the most difficult letters. As you may have noticed, there are four different letters... but, oddly enough, these are just four forms of one letter. Kaf (כּ) is pronounced like het, and kef (כ) is, perhaps, like the Russian “k”. Kaf soft (ךּ) is pronounced like kaf, but is at the end of words. Kef soft (ך) is pronounced like kef, but also only appears at the ends of words. It's difficult to get used to, but over time you'll get used to it. Believe me, over time, Hebrew will become almost like a native language for you.
• ל Lamed. It's simple, the sound “L”.
• Meme (מ) and meme soft (ם). Again, these are just two forms of the same letter, differing in how they are written at the end of words. Both of them are responsible for the sound “M”. The soft meme looks like a meme, but is “closed” at the bottom by a dash, taking on the appearance of a square.
• Nun (נ) and soft nun (ן). Both letters are pronounced as “N”, while you will find nun only at the beginning or middle of words, but soft nun - at the end.
• ס Samekh. The sound of this letter is “S”. Remember, it does not form anything similar to the English "SH".
• ע Ain. For those who are not native speakers of Hebrew, Ayin becomes perhaps the most difficult letter. This is understandable, because neither the Romance nor the Germanic languages ​​have such a sound. Moreover, ayin is also pronounced differently in different parts of the word to facilitate overall pronunciation. Linguistically speaking, it is a “voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative,” which can be found equivalent in other Semitic languages ​​- for example, Arabic, Syriac, and so on. In general, many non-native Hebrew speakers (and even many native speakers) pronounce it as aleph... that is, simply put, they do not pronounce ayin at all, making do with just the vowel underneath it. If you want to try to pronounce this sound, then here is an exercise: pronounce the sound “ng” or “nk” so that the “n” goes into the nasopharynx. This will give you the approximate sound of Ayin as practiced among Jews. However, if you leave this sound without pronunciation, it won’t get worse either.
• Drink (פ), fei (פּ), fei soft (ףּ) and drink soft (ף). Pei is responsible for the sound “p”, fairy is responsible for the sound “f”. Fey soft is read like fey, but occurs at the end of words. Pei soft - similar inside and out, but adjusted for the fact that it sounds like pei.
• Tzadi (צ) and soft Tzadi (ץ). Please note that this is a tzaddik, not a tzaddik! Both of these letters are pronounced “ts”. Tzadi is soft, respectively, found at the ends of words. It is pronounced like “ts”, but if there is an apostrophe with it, then the sound shifts closer to “ch”.
• ק Kuf. Kuf is responsible for the sound "K". There is also a pronunciation similar to the pronunciation of the English “Q”, but “K” is still more common.
• ר Dec. The sound “R” is the solution.
• Shin (שׂ) and sin (שׁ). These letters have only one difference: tires have a dot on the left, and syns have a dot on the right. Shin is pronounced “sh” and sin is pronounced “s”, like samekh or tzadi.
• ת Tav. The sound “T” is tav.

Learn the vowels. In Hebrew, vowels are added to consonants to form one sound. For example, samekh by itself makes the sound “s”, but if you add a line under it, you get “sakh”. Hebrew vowels are clear, in general, simple - the main thing is to put in a little effort.

• אֵ Patah. Patah is a line that can be drawn under any letter, from which it will additionally acquire the sound “a” (after a consonant).
• אָ Kamats. Kamats adds the same sound as patah, and is drawn in the same way. The only difference is that the kamatz has a tiny perpendicular line down the middle.
• וֹ Holam Male. Essentially, it's a vav with a dot on top, creating the "o[u]" sound. Please note that the sound “vo” is not created, since when you add a dot, the “v” disappears.
• בֹּ Kholam Haser. This vowel is not added to all consonants (which is why there is Kholam Male and Kholam Haser). When this small dot is above (or slightly to the left, but still above) any consonant, then in addition to the consonant the sound “o[x]” is added.
• אֶ Segol. Segol is three whole dots on top, added in the form of a triangle, which bring with them the sound “e” to the consonant. For example, bet with segol is “be”.
• בֵּ Cere. Tsere, or two dots below the letter that form a horizontal line (not to be confused with schwa, which makes a vertical line), adds the sound “e” (yes, like segol) to the consonant. For example, vet with tsere is “ve.”
• מְ Shva. Shva adds a fuzzy sound to the consonant, which is something between “e” and “s”. It is also written with two dots, but vertically. Mem and schwa will give the sound “me” (about that).
• וּ Shuruk. Gives the sound “U” - do not confuse it with the schwa! This vowel can only be added to vav, which loses the “v” from such treatment.
• אֻ Kubuts. Three horizontal dots slanting to the right under any consonant, adding the sound “u:” are kubuts. Bet with kubuts - “buu”.
• אֲ Hataf patats, hataf segol, hataf kamats. Khataf is two points forming a vertical line. When added to patah, segol or kamatz, hataf makes these sounds short.
• נִ Hirik. Adds the sound “and”, representing one dot under any consonant. For example, hirik and bet are “bi”.
• רָ Kamats katan. This vocalization is similar to kamatz, but with one exception - the second line does not connect to the middle. This vocalization creates the sound “o”.

Those who begin to study Hebrew often have a question: “How can you read without vowels?” Many people have heard about the so-called “vocalizations”, 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.

In Babylonian cuneiform, different signs were used to indicate syllables formed by the same consonant with different vowels. Therefore, there must have been a lot of cuneiform signs. For example, the syllables “by”, “ba”, “bo”, “bi” would require four different signs.

The alphabet system (letter writing) was born in the west of the Semitic world, in Phenicia. It formed the basis of both Greek and other Mediterranean alphabets.

Nevertheless, in the ancient Semitic languages ​​themselves the final transition from syllabary 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 “slon”, “slona” and “elephants” were written the same way - “sln”.

We can see the same writing in the most ancient Jewish inscriptions on the so-called Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (the closest relative of the Phoenician alphabet).

Paleo-Hebrew inscription from Khirbet Kayaf.

Hebrew occupied an intermediate place between syllabic and alphabetic writing. We can say that in ancient 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 “schwa”)

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” – g(very short uh)

חריג harIg- "unusual" ( G- at the end of a word, just a consonant, without a vowel)

The same consonant ג ( gImel) is read differently in these words: ga, ge, g and just G.

How do you still understand which vowels are present in the syllables and how to correctly read and understand the meaning of the text?

For this purpose, there are various ways to make reading easier.

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, which in some cases denote vowel sounds.

For this purpose, the letters available in the alphabet were used: א ה ו י - aleph, hey, vav, yud.

In certain positions, most often at the end of a word, they still serve to indicate vowel sounds - a, uh, oh, y 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 “u”.

י yud– for “and” and “e”.

For example,

אש Ish -"man" אשה ishA-"woman"

קר car- "cold" קרא KARA- "read"

“Mothers of Reading” promote both correct reading and understanding of the meaning of the text.

For example, if we see words like מדריך madrich And מדריכה madricha, lastה hey will read as A and indicate the feminine gender (“counselor” - “counselor”).

ו wow, 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 scrapEd- "(he is studying"

לימוד limUd– “teaching”

תלמדו tilmedU– “learn”

At the beginning of the word ו wav It is rarely written and always denotes the sound “v”.

ויכוח vikUah– “dispute”

At the end of a word, the sound “v” is usually conveyed 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 it is read as “av”.

אכשיו akhshAv- "Now"

End letters

During the era of the Prophets, a special form appeared for some consonants, which indicated the end of a word. At that time, texts were written together, without spaces between words. Naturally, this created problems when reading. These letters are also included in the modern Hebrew alphabet.

Final letters in the Hebrew alphabet

Here are examples of their use in modern Hebrew.

דרך dErekh –"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 the Russian language there are many roots with the same consonants, and it is difficult to distinguish them without vowels, for example: kort, karat, karta.

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) we are talking about. Of course, for this you need to have a large supply of roots in your memory. Therefore, it is not easy for a beginner to read words at first.

The importance of word formation patterns for ease of reading

In Hebrew, word-formation patterns (משקל) are also of great importance mishqal). They indicate the structure of a word and make it easier to read.

For example, it is known that nouns formed from verbs with the prefix –ma most often means a tool, and with a prefix –mi- place.

Knowing this model, and relying on the context, you can correctly understand which vowel is implied in the syllable containing the letter מ meme: “a” or “and”.

Knowledge of grammatical forms

Knowledge of grammatical forms helps with correct reading. For example, nouns and verbs of different types have a certain set of prefixes and endings to denote different grammatical categories (tense, person, number, etc.).

For example, the past tense verb has a masculine ending in the second person - A, and in the feminine gender it has a zero ending. The spelling is the same.

Nowadays, when teaching reading in Hebrew, a system of so-called “vocalizations” is used - נקודות nekudot. It is usually used at the initial stage to facilitate reading.

It is interesting that historically the vowel system in Hebrew did not develop as a teaching tool. It was developed when, as a result of the dispersion of Jews around the world, Hebrew began to lose its role as a 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 gap. Jews living in different countries gradually lost the ability to read the TANAKH (Holy Scripture) - the main heritage of the past that united them during the years of dispersion.

To prevent further disunity, in the 7th-8th centuries. a system of vocalization of biblical texts was developed, and Jews all began to read them the same way (with minor variations).

Special icons were invented for vowel sounds that are written under consonants, as well as signs showing variants of pronunciation of consonants - “dageshi” ( דגש dagesh).

Pronunciation of consonants with and without “dagesh”

Initially, the system of vowels was used only for the vocalization of the TANACH, 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 aimed at a native speaker who feels it from the inside. For him, the lack of vowels is not a serious obstacle.

For foreigners, the lack of vowels greatly complicates reading and learning the language in general. However, learning to read Hebrew is quite possible.

Millions of people who came to Israel learned Hebrew. Thousands are learning it in the diaspora. They can read and understand texts written in Hebrew fluently.

Progress in learning to read require practices, and knowledge of roots and word formation models that give an idea of ​​the structure of the word.

In this lesson we will learn to read Hebrew. Many of you probably already know that in Hebrew there are practically no letters that convey vowel sounds. But what about without them? And it’s very simple - special symbols are used to indicate vowel sounds, which are called vowels, in Hebrew “nekudot” (literally translated - “dots”). They are practically not used in modern Hebrew, except for their use in poetry and dictionaries. People who know the language well can read without them, but you and I can’t do without them in the first couple of days.

Vowels are small lines or dots that are written under, inside or above a letter. When reading, the letter itself is pronounced first, and only then the sound conveyed by one or another vowel.

Exists 5 Basic Vowel Sounds, for the expression of which there are corresponding signs. There is no vowel for the vowel “e”. Nevertheless, the vowel sound “e” can arise in the process of speech, for example, when the sound “e” is added to the consonant letter “y”. Let's look at what each vowel looks like and what sound it represents (the square plays the role of any letter it should be under): Those who are just starting to learn a language usually have questions at this point. Why are there several vowels for each vowel sound? Does it make any difference to spelling or pronunciation which of these appear in a word? Or can they be placed arbitrarily? In ancient Hebrew, there was a difference in the meaning of vowels and the length of the sounds they conveyed. The first of each pair given in the table above conveyed a short vowel, the second - a long one. In modern Hebrew pronunciation there is no longitude or shortness. And it's very convenient for conversation. No one shortens or stretches vowels. They speak naturally. That is, for conversation it does not matter which of them is in the word. But for writing it matters. Vowelization may be associated with the sound of the next or previous letter, or possible changes in the word.

So, the type of vowel does not matter for pronunciation, but it does matter when writing!

Hebrew reading practice

To understand the structure of Hebrew words, let's imagine what words would look like in Russian if they had vowels instead of vowels: Pay attention to several features:

• In most cases, the letters "u/o" are the letter ו "vav" with a dot under or above it, rather than simply the preceding letter with the vowel "u" ​​or "o".
• A similar thing happens with the letter י “yud” - the sound “and”.
• Two dots are placed under the solid letters - the vowel “schwa”. We'll talk more about "schwa" below.
• The vast majority of Hebrew words use the sound "e" instead of the "e" sound.

The concept of "seam"

In addition to the five above-mentioned vowels, there is one more, it is called “shva”. To understand what this is, let's take the words: Where a consonant letter does not have a vowel, in Hebrew we would place two vertical dots. Let's look at a few of its features:

1. The two dots standing vertically below the letter are called “shwa”.
2. "Shwa" denotes the absence of a vowel sound from a consonant. As you can see from the examples above, "schwa" can appear at the beginning of a word, in the middle or at the end. Certain rules are associated with its location in a word.
3. “Shva” in the middle of a word is not pronounced: The only condition when a “shva” standing in the middle of a word is pronounced as a short “e” sound is if it appears under the first of two identical adjacent letters:
4. If there are two stitches in a row in the middle of a word, then the first of them is not pronounced, and the second is pronounced as a short “e” sound:
5. “Shva” at the beginning of a word is pronounced as a short “e” sound: If during pronunciation it is possible to avoid relying on a vowel sound, then the “schwa” at the beginning of the word is not pronounced:
6. There cannot be two “seams” in a row at the beginning of a word. The meaning of this axiom is this. In Hebrew, it is difficult to say several consonants at the beginning of a word without inserting a vowel sound between them. This is how language works.
7. The word "shwa" is not pronounced at the end

The concept of "dagesha"

• The dot inside the letter is called " "
• "Dagesh" changes the pronunciation of three letters:

In addition to these letters, “dagesh” can appear in many others, but in order to avoid confusion, we will skip learning the rules for using it in other letters, because it has virtually no effect on reading and pronunciation.

If you've already completed the pro lesson and read the table above, now is the time to start reading.

שָׁלוֹם (shalom) - hello/peace

עֲבוֹדָה (avodah) - work

עִבְרִית (Hebrew) - Hebrew

סְטוּדֶנְט (student) - student

שֶׁמֶשׁ (shemesh) - sun

חָנוּת (khanut) - store

?מָה נִשְׁמָע (ma nishma) - how are you?

שִׁיעוּר (shiur) - lesson

לִכְתּוֹב (likhtov) - to write

לִלְמוֹד (lilmod) - to teach

לִדְבֹּר (lidaber) - to talk

סֵפֶר (seʁfer) - book

קוּרְס (course) - course

עֲטִיפָה (atifa) - cover

בַּיִת (bayt) - house

רְחוֹב (rekhov) - street

אֲנָשִׁים (anashim) - people

We hope that the general principle of reading is clear to you. There will be a lot more practice in the future, but now to reinforce this lesson, be sure to watch the video about vowels and the rules of reading in Hebrew:

Written by Mikhail Nosonovsky
Friday, 13 August 2004
Analysis of Hebrew vowels in the light of vocalization systems in the Mishnaic and later periods. (printed with permission of the author)© M. Nosonovsky, 2001.

Mikhail NOSONOVSKY (Boston)

HEBREW VOWELS: PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
DIFFERENT PRONUNCIATION TRADITIONS

Introduction.

The transformation of the vowel system in Hebrew (the Hebrew language) over the centuries is discussed 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 for 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 BC. to the 3rd century BC, while their language is divided into Hebrew from the period before the Babylonian exile (586 BC) and after the captivity. Numerous scientific grammars of Biblical Hebrew have discussed in detail the phonological system of this language. It should be noted, however, that the vowels in Biblical Hebrew were not originally written. The vocalized 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 Masoretic scholars. Before this, the pronunciation of vowels was transmitted orally, according to tradition. By the time of the Masorites, Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language (it was replaced by Aramaic) and different pronunciation traditions had developed (Tiberian, Palestinian, Babylonian, Samaritan).

Additional sources that shed light on the history of Biblical Hebrew include epigraphic monuments (the earliest reliably dated inscriptions in Hebrew 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 .e.).

The next stage in the development of the language is Mishnaic Hebrew. The Mishnah was written down by 200 AD. In the early 20th century, it was assumed that Mishnaic Hebrew was the artificial language of Jewish scholars in the early centuries CE, while Hebrew was being replaced by Aramaic as a spoken language. Analysis of the grammar and vocabulary of Mishnaic Hebrew showed that it was a spoken language and a descendant of Biblical Hebrew. The discovery of the Qumran scrolls and manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza has led researchers to conclude that Mishnaic Hebrew was the spoken language of Second Temple Judea (with later biblical books imitating the style of the pre-exilic period) until the revolt of Bar Kochba in the second century CE.

In the subsequent period, three main pronunciation traditions developed in the Jewish Diaspora: Sephardic, Ashkenazi and Yemenite, going back to three different Masoretic traditions. Modern Israeli pronunciation is based on the Sephardic tradition, which in turn dates back to the Palestinian pronunciation of the first centuries AD.

1. Vowels in Biblical Hebrew: pre-Soretian sources.

Due to the consonantal nature of the Hebrew script, 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 (the letters א “alef”, ו “vav”, י “yod” and ה “hey”, used to denote vowels) . The earliest inscriptions date back to the 10th-9th centuries. BC, did not use matres lectionis, like the Phoenician inscriptions of this period. Then matres lectionis appear at the end of the word, to indicate the endings /u/ (the letter ו “vav”), /a/, /e/, /o/ (the letter ה “hey”), /e/ (the letter י “yod” ). In later inscriptions of the 8th-6th centuries. BC. the letters “vav” and “yod” are occasionally used to denote /u/, /i/ in the middle of a word, for example ארור ’RWR ’arur.

In the spread of matres lectionis to denote vowels, the contraction of diphthongs /aw/ > /o:/ and /ay/ > /e:/, for example, bayt > bet (day), yawm > yom (day), played a major role. This contraction was more characteristic of the northern (Israelite) dialect, as well as the Moabite, Ammonite and Phoenician languages, and much less characteristic of the Judean dialect. Writing with matres lectionis for words like בית bet or יום yom led to the fact that “yod” and “vav” were assigned the functions of designating /e/ and /u/, which were subsequently transferred to all cases of use of these vowels (and not contracted diphthongs only).

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 (“writing”).

The most important source for the history of Hebrew vocalism is also the pronunciation of Hebrew, 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 and 2nd centuries BC, contains many proper names, the translation of which in Greek letters allows us to judge the pronunciation of vowels. Of similar interest are the later translation of Origen (3rd century AD), the translations of the “three” (Aquilla, Symmachus and Theodocyon, 2nd century AD), as well as the translation of the Old Testament into Latin by Jerome (4th century AD .e.). The rendering of vowels in these translations, in comparison with the Tiberian vowels, is not entirely consistent. Kamaz is usually transmitted by alpha, less often by omicron (See Table 1).

Table 1. Hebrew vowels in Greek transcriptions

Origen's translation reflects a more archaic pronunciation, retaining monosyllables in segolate names (kalb instead of Masoretic kaleb with auxiliary segol), retaining /a/ in particles ba-, la-, ka-, retaining /a/ in many models where in pronunciation Masoretes are marked by /i/ (for example, the name of place and time maqtal), the absence of Philippi's law (the transition /i/ > /a/ in a closed stressed syllable, for example, hizminti > hizmanti).

Information about the vowels in the Hebrew of the Qumran scrolls is limited due to the lack of vowels. A characteristic feature of the orthography of the Qumran scrolls is the use of the letter “vav” to designate various variants of /o/ and /u/ (holam-male, holam-haser, kamatz-katan, hataf-kamatz, shuruk and kubbutz of the Tiberian vowel). The few cases in which "vaw" is not used to represent /u/ or /o/ probably indicate a different pronunciation. These are cases of preservation of the proto-Semitic short /u/ in those words where in the Masoretic vowel this sound is reduced or gives kamats-katan, separate words in which “vav” corresponds to the Masoretic kamats, segol or patah, /o/ in the form of segolate qotol (u 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 (indicated by the letters י “yod”, ו “vav”, א “aleph”) between two vowels, due to the weakening of the glottals or the assimilation of /y/, /w/ : me'ot > meot > מיות meyot (“hundreds”), bå'u > båu > בוו båwu (“they came”), goyim > goim > גואים go'im (“peoples”) and contraction of diphthongs –aw > o , -uy > o.

The phonological system of the vowels of the Mishnaic language was poorly known until recently, apparently, it was characterized by many of the features discussed above inherent in the language of the Qumran scrolls, as well as attested by the Septuagint and other transcriptions. Vocalized manuscripts discovered in recent decades have made significant progress in its understanding. A significant difference is noted between the Palestinian and Babylonian dialects, for example, the latter is characterized by rounding of vowels before or after glottals: /e/ > /u/ in the words שום shum /u/: קורדום qurdum /u/ in an open or stressed syllable in Judeo-Germanic dialect (> /o/ in Lithuanian pronunciation) simultaneously with /u/ > /i/ and /e/ > /ey/, which determined the distinction between Patakh and Kamats, as well as Segol and Tseyre in Ashkenazi pronunciation. Let us note the diphthongization of cere and holam, which should be distinguished from the appearance of glides /y/, /n/ due to the non-pronunciation of the glottal א, ​​ע: מאמר ma'amår > maamоr > mayamоr > maymðr (“saying”), נעמי nå'åmi > Naomi > Nayomi (“Naomi”), יעקב ya'aqob > yaaqov > yankðv (“Yaakov”). The pronunciation of vowels in different variants of Ashkenazi pronunciation 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, instead of a vowel, the vowel often takes on the color /e/ (שבת shabes - “Saturday”). The schwa movable is not pronounced or is pronounced as /e/.

Yemenite pronunciation of Hebrew is based on the Babylonian tradition. As in the latter, Yemenite pronunciation does not distinguish between patah and segol. Another characteristic feature is the contrast between the short pronunciation of hatafs and the long pronunciation of the remaining vowels. Shva is pronounced differently, depending on the phonetic environment: before y as /i/, before glottals as a short vowel, coinciding in quality with the vowel of the subsequent consonant, in other cases - as a fluent /å/; the schwa at the end of the word is pronounced. Yemeni pronunciation was divided into five territorial variants: central (including San'u), northern (Haydan Ashsham and Sa'da), southwestern (Sharib), eastern (Habban and Hadina) and Aden.

Table 7. Yemenite pronunciation of vowels.

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 Reuchlin. Vowels do not differ in length, patah and kamats are pronounced the same as /a/, segol and tsere as /e/, schwa movable is not pronounced or is 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 tendency for all pronunciation variants is the preservation of the historical Semitic vowels /a/, /u/, /i/, with the exception of certain cases (/u/ > /i/ in the Ukrainian version of Ashkenazi, /i/ > /e/ in East Yemenite) .

The situation is more complex with those occupying an intermediate position between /u/ and /a/, holam /o/ and kamatz /å/ and between /a/ and /i/ segol /ε/ and tsere /e/. Kholam /o/ may either remain (most Sephardic and Yemenite pronunciations), become /o/ > /u/ (some varieties of the Palestinian tradition, Samaritan, North African and Bukharian pronunciations), or be diphthongized /o/ > /oy/ (Ashkenazi pronunciation), /o/ > /ey/ (Lithuanian pronunciation, in this case the pronunciation of holam coincided with tsere).

The pronunciation of kamatz /å/ is preserved only among some Yemenite and Persian Jews. in other traditions, kamatz coincides with patah /å/ > /a/ (Palestinian, Samaritan and Sephardic tradition; in the open syllable), or with holam /å/ > /o/ (Ashkenazi Lithuanian, Bukharan, 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 patakh /a/ in the Babylonian tradition and in Yemenite pronunciation; in the Palestinian-Sephardic tradition, segol coincides with tsere /e/. Only in Ashkenazi pronunciation, where there is a diphthongization of cere /e/ > /ey/, are segol and cere different.

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-kamatsa) is extremely weak. The Tivenriad 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 between 7 and 4 vowels. Patach and Segol, Patach and Kamatz, Segol and Tsere, Segol, Tsere and Hirik, Kamatz and Kholam, Kholam and Shuruk-Kubbutz, Tsere and Shuruk-Kubbutz, Tseire and Kholam 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 significance and was placed automatically on the penultimate syllable, or on the penultimate syllable if it was long (closed or with a long vowel), similar to what happens in classical Arabic. The subsequent shift of stress to the penultimate syllable and the disappearance of endings gave the stress a distinctive character. For example, q"a:mat > q"åmat > q"åmå ("she got up") and q"a:matu > qåm"atu > qåm"å ("getting up"). In the traditional Tiberian notation of the Tanakh, stress is marked using cantillation marks; Along with the main stress, an auxiliary stress is also noted. 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 accent rules. Yemenite communities follow the Tiberian accent rules for words accompanied by disjunctive accents, while words accompanied by connective accents often shift the stress to the penultimate syllable. Deviations in stress distribution are even more common for non-biblical texts. Ashkenazi communities do not follow the Tiberian accent rules; as a rule, the stress falls on the penultimate or penultimate syllable. The Samaritans also usually place the accent on the penultimate syllable, but this is considered a late tradition.

Finally, let's look at the question of the number of vowels in Hebrew. The terms "long" and "short" vowels can be used in several senses when applied to Hebrew. It is assumed that the three proto-Semitic vowels /u/, /a/, /i/ had long and short variants that were phonemically significant, similar to those found in classical Arabic. The reflexes of these long and short proto-Semitic vowels are clearly visible in Hebrew and allow us to talk about historically long and short vowels. It should be borne in mind that in Biblical Hebrew longitude/shortness has no phonemic meaning, and the lengthening/shortening of Proto-Semitic vowels was usually 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 either a historically long or short sound. At the same time, in the Tiberian system there are four vowels denoting fluent vowels: schwa movable and hatafa. This allows us to talk about the contrast in length between full and fluent vowels.

Sephardic pronunciation does not distinguish between segol and zeira, nor does it distinguish between patach and kamatz. But for most Sephardim, the spoken language was Arabic, which clearly distinguishes between 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). The long ones included shuruk, holam, kamatz, tsere and hirik-male (hirik in those cases when it is accompanied by a mater lectionis). The short ones include kubbutz, kamats-katan (i.e. kamats in a closed unstressed syllable), patah, segol, and hirik. Since matres lectionis usually accompanies a historically long vowel, kamatz and cere in most cases come from long ones, and patah (and segol) from short ones, this system roughly corresponded to historical longitude/brevity. At the same time, the correspondence is not complete, and the actual pronunciation of these vowels, as a rule, did not differ in length. This classification into grammatically long and short vowels is widely used in traditional and modern Hebrew grammar literature 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 ‘ivriyot. Yerushalayim, 1992.

A. Saenz-Badillos. A History of Hebrew Language. Cambridge, 1993.

I.M. Dyakonov. The Hebrew language and some data about 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, Gezenius’s grammar (Gezenius, 1910), which was reprinted many times and translated into different languages. Among the works in Russian, one can mention an essay on Hebrew grammar by I.M. Dyakonova (1991). The history of Hebrew stress and vocalism has been discussed in detail in the works of J. Blau.

See Segal, 1978.

Sianz-Badillas, 1996.

See Cross and Friedman, 1952. The first use of a letter to represent a vowel is considered to be a 9th century inscription. BC. לשמעיהו lsm‘yhu (“belongs to Shemaiah”).

See Akhitov, 1992.

In this work we follow the names of vowel marks accepted in Jewish grammatical literature, which differ somewhat from the scientific tradition: hirik (hirek) /i/, tsere /e/, segol /ε/, patah /a/, kamats (kamets) /e /, holam (holem) /o/, shuruk (shurek) /u/, kubbutz (kibbutz) /u/, kamatz-katan (kamets-hatuf) /e/, hataf-patah (hatef-patah) /a/, hataf-segol (hatef-segol) /ε/, hataf-kamats (hatef-kamets) /e/, shva /r/. If necessary, the length of the vowel is indicated by a colon, for example, a:, and the accent is indicated by the symbol ", 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 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 the Masoretes recorded e: אוניה 'wnyh ('eniya - "ship") or movable schwa: פורת pwrt (Pрret - "Euphrates"), יקטולו yqtwlw (yiqtрlu - "they will kill" ) and so on. Ts. Ben-Haim suggested that in the language of the Qumran scrolls there was no movable schwa, just as it is absent in the Samaritan tradition, however, as E. Kimron points out, the orthography of the Qumran scrolls does not confirm this assumption.

We are talking about plural suffixes. numbers –um, -hum (Masoretic –еm, -hεm), individual words: עולם'wlwm (Masoretic: 'olem – “eternity”), רחמון rhmwn (rahεmen – “merciful”), שומה shwmh (shammе – “there” ) and so on. It has been suggested that qamatz /e/ could be pronounced /o/ in the Qumran community dialect, but it is more likely that there is a “rounding” of the vowel before the labial consonant or ר “resh” (Qimron, 1986).

This is proven by the parallel use of –yw and –w to denote the pronominal suffix of the 3rd person singular. numbers with both singular and plural names: ברואשיו brw'shyw / ברואשו brw'shw (berosho) and 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, cc. 178-183.

It took several centuries for the vocalization system to take its final form. Early vowel systems were diacritics 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 under the word - a schwa (lрmishpahot, wрyomar). In the next step, a dot above the word indicated that one of the vowels was /o/ rather than /a/, /e/ or /e/; /u/, not /a/, /e/, /i/ or /e/; /e/, not /a/, /e/ or /i/. A 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 system of vowels (Morag, 1962, pp. 17-18).

Patah and segol may indicate allophones of a historically single phoneme. This is supported by the fact that in the Babylonian system they are designated by one icon. In Arabic, the phoneme /a/ (fatha) is realized as [a] before or after glottal 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 Tiberian system recorded the transitional stage from the non-phonemic distinction between [a] and [ε] to the phonemic one.

Traditional Hebrew grammars contrast kamatz and kamatz-katan (in a closed unstressed syllable), however, this contrast is more recent.

Shuruk and kubbutz both indicate /u/. The difference between them is purely graphic: shuruk is used with the mater lectioni with the letter “vav”, and kubbutz is used independently.

The so-called schwa at rest indicates the absence of a vowel sound. Some linguists do not consider schwa (movable) a phoneme, giving phonemic status to duplication. These formulations appear to be equivalent. For example, the forms שמחה simhe (“joy”) and simmрhe (“she rejoiced”) can be contrasted according to one of these two complementary features (Morag, 1962, p. 24).

Graphically, the three hatafs represent a schwa combined with the corresponding vowel. Shwa is a fluent neural sound resulting from vowel reduction. Khataf-patah and hataf-segol are allophones of schwa, used after glottals, the latter usually used after aleph. Well-known examples of the contrast between hataf-patah [a] and hataf-segola [ε]: עני 'anu (“answer”, 1 Sam., 12:3) and ‘εnu (“sing”, Nu., 21:17, Ps. , 147:7), עלי 'ali ("rise") and 'εli ("stem", Pr. 27:22) are not convincing enough, 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 a pausal position, where 'εli' is expected (ibid., p. 23).

Hataf-kamats is contrasted with hataf-patah/shva and kamats in several cases: אני 'ani ("I") and 'eni ("fleet"), חלי hali ("illness") and heli ("ornament"), דמי demi ( “silence”) and demi (“my blood”), ibid., p. 22.

The corresponding pairs were דברך dрberεke (“your word”) and דבריך dрberε:ke (“your words”) and מורנו morenu (“our teacher”) and מורינו more:nu (“our teachers”), ibid., p. 25. In the above plural forms /e/ and /ε/ are the result of diphthong contraction, i.e. historically long, but there is no evidence of different pronunciations of the singular and plural forms; The spelling of cere and cere-male (i.e. with mater lectioni "yod") 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 /p/ in an open pre-stressed syllable.

In a stressed closed syllable (Philippi's law).

Canaanite transition /a:/ > /o:/.

See Morag, 1962, cc. 30-34.

See Morag, 1971, p. 1125

See Morag, 1962, p. 34-37.

There, p. 43.

S. Morag believes that the Palestinian tradition of pronunciation (more widespread than the Tiberian tradition of scribes) supplanted the Babylonian tradition, previously widespread 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 the short /u/. Kamatz, which comes before hataf-kamatz, however, was pronounced by Sephardim as /a/ (For example, na‘omi – “Naomi”, Tiberian ne‘emi), as is kamatz in the word kel (ibid., p. 1138).

There, p. 1136.

For example: Malko, Amnun va-Tomor, etc. The transition /a:/ > /o/ in an open syllable occurs 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 shva in forms such as qetрle, qеtрlu, qotрlim, qotрlot (ibid., pp. 1126, 1137).

A similar phonetic shift differs in Yiddish dialects: גאַס gas > gas (“street”), but טראָגן tragn > trogn (“carry”), etc. (See Weinreich, 1971, p. 794.) An alternative explanation for the Ashkenazi distinction between Patah/Kamatz and Segola/Tsere, which had no place in the Palestinian-Sephardic tradition, is M. Weinreich's hypothesis of a “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 here the Tiberian tradition of reading (which had by that time supplanted the Babylonian system in Iraq) and a number of other Babylonian customs (See Morag, 1971, c . 1128-1130.)

Also /ey/: מלך meylekh (“king”).

Also /o/ in words that passed into Yiddish: שבת shobes (“Saturday”).

Named after the 16th century German Hebraist Johann Reuchlin.

The differences between modern scientific pronunciation and Sephardic pronunciation include the pronunciation of kamatz-katan, which follows hataf-kamatz, as /o/ (באניה be'еniya - “on the ship”), and the possibility of pronouncing the schwa-intermediate (מלכי malěke - “kings”) .

Experimental studies show that a stressed vowel is usually pronounced slightly longer than an unstressed one.

Influenced by Ashkenazi pronunciation, tseire may be pronounced /ey/. This is especially true for forms of the conjugate state (דברי divrey – “words”) and with pronominal suffixes (ארצנו artzeynu – “our country”) and forms with tseire-male. In some cases, the pronunciation of /ey/ is contrasted with /e/, which indicates the acquisition of /ey/ phonemic status (בן ben - “son” and בין beyn - “between”).

In a closed unstressed syllable e > o, kamats differs from pataha (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 Segola and Tsere was the same as Hirik.

At the same time, the length/shortness of the vowels had a phonological meaning.

For the history of stress in Biblical Hebrew, see I. Blau.

See Morag, 1971, p. 1143.

See also note 21.
© M. Nosonovsky, 2001.

As a rule, only consonant sounds are represented by letters in Hebrew. The exceptions are foreign words, names and titles, and native Hebrew words, which include “mothers of reading.”
Vowel sounds are shown with special icons - dots and/or dashes, which 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 poems and in texts from the TANAKH. In other cases, it is assumed that the reader has a good command of Hebrew and has accumulated sufficient linguistic intuition to “decipher” the text without vowels.
In order to facilitate the reading of unvocalized texts (in particular, to distinguish the spelling of words with the same root), additional letters י “yud” (in place of the sound [i]) and ו “vav” (in place of the sound [o] or [u]) are often inserted into them. ). To emphasize that in a given 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 [v], it is also doubled: וו ( cm. ). At the beginning of words, such doublings are not made, since “yud” and “vav” in this position are already read as [th] or [v], respectively (except for the case when “vav” is not part of the root, but a conjunction “and” - then it can sound like [u]).
In ancient Hebrew, there were three types of vowel sounds: long, short, and super-short. In the modern version of the language found in Israel, the difference between long and short sounds has disappeared - so let's call them ordinary. Readers interested in the history of language are encouraged to read about former long and former short sounds and much more. But the ultra-short sounds have been preserved; sometimes in fast speech they are completely “swallowed”.
The table shows the vowel system of Hebrew in its current form.

Russian analogue of sound	international designation	normal longitude sound	Name	example	Note No.	ultra-short sound	Name	example	Note No.
[a]	[a]	ַ	patAx	רַ [ra]	No	ֲ	hataf-patah	עֲ [а]	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 ֵ	tsere male	רֵי [ray]	4	No	No	No	No
[And]	[i]	ִ	hirIk hasEr	רִ [ri]	No	No	No	No	No
[And]	[i]	י ִ	HIRIC MALE	רִי [ri]	No	No	No	No	No
[O]	[o]	ׂ	KholAm HasEr	רׁ [ro]	5	ֳ	hataf-kamats	רֳ [ro]	No
[O]	[o]	וֹ	KholAm MalE	רוֹ [ro]	5	No	No	No	No
[y]	[u]	וּ	ShurUK	רוּ [ru]	No	No	No	No	No
[y]	[u]	ֻ	cuUts	רֻ [ru]	6	No	No	No	No
there is no exact analogue; this is a fuzzy sound, between [e] and [s]	[ә]	No	No	No	No	ְ	seam	רְ [рә]	7

Notes on the table 1. In a number of exception words, “kamats” is read as [o], while changing its name to “kamats-katAn”.
2. Placed under the letters א, ה, ח, ע in those positions where, according to the general rules, a “schwa” should appear.
3. In the Western European (Ashkenazi) tradition, as well as in the Yiddish language, “tsere” is pronounced as [ey]; it also sounds under the letter “tav” in the exception word תשע [teisha] “nine”.
4. Studying the vowel “tsere-male” is optional, since it is the sum of “tsere-haser” and the letter “yud.” However, please note that in