Usually diacritic marks are written
under/above/inside the letter after which they are pronounced. (There are some
exceptions, however.)
There are 4 categories of vowels in Hebrew:
-
Long "Filled" Vowels (which always are
indicated by a mater lectionis)
-
Long "Not Filled" Vowels
-
Short Vowels
-
Ultra-Short Vowels
Modern Hebrew grammar distinguishes between
usage of long "filled" and long "not filled" vowels; although in Masoretic texts
of the Scriptures the usage of the two types was irregular. Later writings start
using "filled" long vowels in pretty much consistent way, which became a rule
today.
The term used in Hebrew for vocalization mark is
נִקּוּד (niqqud.) The official English term is
diacrotic marks or diacritics.
Long "Filled" Vowels
|
|
Vowel |
Hebrew Name
of the vowel
|
|
The Sound |
|
|
וֹ |
חוֹלָם מָלֵא
|
Kholam Maleh |
O (as [aw] in law) |
"Stable" long O, which is not changing with
name declination. |
|
וּ |
שׁוּרוּק |
Shuruk |
U (as [oo] in food) |
"Stable" long U, which is not changing with
name declination. |
|
אֵי
|
צֵירֶה מָלֵא
|
Tzeireh Maleh |
E, EI, EY
(as in Eh or Hey!)
|
Strictly speaking, Tzeireh Maleh can be
"filled" not only with Yud, but also with Aleph, or theoreticaly with any of
"matres lectionis" (in
practice, it's either Yud or Aleph.)
|
|
Either EY or E works for both Tzeires
(Male and Khaser.) However, in some cases EY is preferred. First of all,
there are certain words where EY is traditionally pronounced:
הֵא
[hey] (name of letter
Hey) versus more common case like
סֵפֶר
[sefer] (book)
or:
בֵּיצָה
[beytza] (egg)
versus more common case like
סֵפֶר
[sefer] (empty)
Please note, that the Yud in the word
ביצה is part of Tzeireh Maleh
diacritic, because it does not have a diacritic of its own!
Sometimes EY is preferred when we want to
distinguish between different grammatical constructs:
שִׁירֵנוּ
[shirenu] (our
song)
שִׁירֵינוּ
[shireynu]
(our songs)
Also, European-born Jews of senior age
oftenly pronounce any Tzeire as EY (which is a rule in Ashkenazi/Yiddish
tradition.)
Bottom line: the
rule of thumb is, Tzeire Male is rather pronounced as EY, while Tzeire
Khaser (see below) - as E in most cases. If you use this rule, it will be
totally correct, and also understandable and acceptable by native Hebrew
speakers.
It's important to not confuse Tzeire Male
with a case when
comes as an indication of Segol (see below "Special
Cases of Filled Vocalization").
|
|
|
אִי |
חִירִיק מָלֵא
|
Khirik Maleh |
I (as [ee] in feed) |
In modern Hebrew
pronunciation there is no difference between long [ee] and short [i] |
| |
Long "not filled" vowels
|
|
אֹ
|
חוֹלָם חָסֵר
|
Kholam Khaser |
O (as [aw] in law) |
|
|
אָ
|
קָמָץ גָדוֹל
|
Kamatz Gadol |
A (as [a] in father) |
|
|
אֵ
|
צֵירֶה חָסֵר
|
Tzeire Khaser |
E (as [e] in mess) |
|
| |
Short vowels
|
|
אָ
|
קָמָץ קָטָן
|
Kamatz Katan |
O (as [aw] in law) |
|
|
The general rule is: Kamatz Katan (Small
Kamatz) can appear in unstressed closed syllable only; in open or
stressed syllable Kamatz should be read as Kamatz Gadol. Examples:
|
חָכְמָה |
[khokhma] |
wisdom |
|
יָשְׁרוֹ |
[yoshro] |
his straightforwardness, his
honesty |
|
אָמְנָם |
[omnam] |
however |
Of course, every rule has exceptions. Here
is the most classic one:
|
שָׁרָשִׁים |
[shorashim] |
roots |
|
|
|
אֻ
|
קֻבּוּץ |
Kubbutz |
U (as [oo] in book) |
|
|
אַ
|
פַּתָּח |
Patakh |
A (as [a] in father) |
|
|
אֶ
|
סֶגוֹל |
Segol |
E (as [e] in mess) |
|
|
אִ
|
חִירִיק חָסֵר
|
Khirik Khaser |
I (as [ee] in feed) |
|
| |
Ultra-short (or Reduced) vowels
|
|
חֳ |
חֲטַף־קָמָץ |
Khataf-Kamatz |
Ho
|
The Khatafs are
pronounced same way as corresponding short vowels (kamatz katan, patakh, and
segol), but the Khatafs are shorter.
Some scholars claim, that
in modern language this shortness is pretty much theoretical; however my
personal observation (and my personal sense of language too) approve the
opposite.
The Khatafs always appear
with guttural sounds (with maybe couple of exceptions all over Hebrew
vocabulary.)
|
|
חֲ |
חֲטַף־פַּתָּח |
Khataf-Patakh |
Ha
|
|
חֱ |
חֲטַף־סֶגוֹל |
Khataf-Segol |
He
|
|
חְ |
שְׁוָא |
Schwa [shva] |
He
sometimes Ha
|
Pronunciation of
Schwa diacritic mark (the
name is pronounced shva) depends on where it stands in a word.
It either means absense
of any vowel ("silent schwa"); or a reduced unstressed vowel, something like
the "a" in "about" ("moving schwa".)
|
Daggesh
Daggesh is a dot inside a letter (בּ)
used to distinguish between different ways to read that letter.There are two
types of dagesh: "light" (dagesh qal) and strong (dagesh khazaq).
Here is a simple example:
ב without dagesh at
all reads as V (כָּבוֹד
- kavod).
בּ
with dagesh qal is B (בֹּקֶר
- boqer),
and בּ
with dagesh chazaq, which is "theoretically" BB:
שַׁבָּת
- shabbat.
We say "theoretically" because consonant gemination is hardly heard in modern
Hebrew (as well as in some other languages which have consonant gemination in
writing.
Patakh Ganuv
There is a special case, when a Patakh is pronounced before
the consonant rather than afterwards. This is so-called sneaky Patakh.
It appears under the letters
ח
,ע
,ה
when those letters are
located in the very end of the word, and the sound preceiding the consonant is
"incompatible" with the guttural nature of those consonants. To make long story
short, if the preceding vowel is not an "A"-sound, the sneaky Patakh is
going to sneak in.
By the way, this Patakh is never stressed.
| profession |
miqtzoa` |
מִקְצוֹעַ |
wind; spirit
|
ruakh |
רוּחַ |
| brain |
moakh |
מֹחַ |
| affecting, influencing |
mashpia` |
מַשְׁפִּיעַ |
high (m)
|
gavoah |
גָּבוֹהַּ |
| neglecting |
mazniakh |
מַזְנִיחַ |
Most Israelis though
pronounce the Patakh ganuv with Hei and Ain as a regular Patakh: gavoha,
miqtzo'a -- or just gavoa, miqtzoa
Mappiq
Rarely found, the Mappiq has the following meaning: it indicates
that the letter which you might think was a Mater Lectionis, is indeed
a consonant. In Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) the Mappiq is found in the
letters א and
ה; but in the modern language it's used only in
ה in the following
cases:
- Words derived from the root גבה, like:
גֹּבַהּ govah
(hight), גבוּהַּ
gavoah
(high), מַגְבִּיהַּ
magbiah
(raising).
- Suffixes -ah (meaning "her") of noun and preposition derivation:
שֶׁלָּהּ shelah
(her)
The modern Israeli
pronunciation is just skipping the Hei with Mappiq, pronouncing it like a
Mater Lectionis - an indication of a final A-sound: gavoa,
shela.
