Hebrew language

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Hebrew is a [[Semitic language]] of the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic language family]]. Culturally, it is considered the [[Jewish languages|Jewish language]]. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by most of the seven million people in [[Israel]] while [[Classical Hebrew]] has been used for prayer or study in [[Jewish]] communities around the world for over two thousand years. It is one of the official [[Languages of Israel|languages of Israel]], along with [[Arabic]]. Ancient Hebrew is also the liturgical tongue of the [[Samaritans]], while modern Hebrew or [[Palestinian Arabic]] is their vernacular, though today about 700 Samaritans remain. As a foreign language it is studied mostly by Jews and students of Judaism and Israel, archaeologists and linguists specializing in the [[Middle East]] and its civilizations, by theologians, and in Christian seminaries.
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The core of the [[Tanakh]] (the [[Hebrew Bible]]) is written in [[Classical Hebrew]], and much of its present form is specifically the dialect of [[Biblical Hebrew]] that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, around the time of the [[Babylonian captivity|Babylonian exile]]. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by [[Jews]] as ''Leshon HaKodesh'' (לשון הקודש), "The Holy Tongue", since ancient times.
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==The name of the language==
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The modern word "Hebrew" is derived from the word "ivri" (plural "ivrim") one of several names for the Jewish people. It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham's ancestor, [[Eber]] mentioned in [[Genesis 10:21]]. This name is possibly based upon the root "`avar" (עבר) meaning "to cross over" and homiletical interpretations of the term "ivrim" link it to this verb. In the Bible "Hebrew" is called ''Yehudith'' (יהודית) because [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] (Yehuda) was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation, late 8th century BCE ([[Isaiah 36]], [[2 Kings 18]]). In [[Isaiah 19:18]], it is also called the "Language of Canaan" (שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן)
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== Phonology ==
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''See Also [[Hebrew phonology]]''
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=== Consonants ===
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The Hebrew word for consonants is ''‘itsurim'' (עיצורים). The following table lists the Hebrew consonants and their pronunciation in [[IPA]] transcription:
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<table class="wikitable">
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<tr>
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<td colspan="12" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Consonants</strong></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td rowspan="2" style="background: #f1f1f1;">Note: The voiceless <br />
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consonants in left,<br />
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and The voiced<br />
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consonants in right.</td>
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<td colspan="2" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Labial</strong></td>
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<td colspan="3" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Coronal</strong></td>
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<td colspan="4" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Dorsal</strong></td>
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<td colspan="2" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Laryn-<br />
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geal</strong></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Bilabial</strong></td>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Labio-<br />
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Dental</strong></td>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Dental</strong></td>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Alveolar</strong></td>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Post-<br />
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alveolar</strong></td>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Palatal</strong></td>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Velar</strong></td>
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<td colspan="2" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Uvular</strong></td>
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<td colspan="2" style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Glottal</strong></td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Nasal</strong></td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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m</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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n</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';" colspan="2">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;" colspan="2">
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Plosive</strong></td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">p&nbsp;&nbsp;
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b</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">
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t&nbsp;&nbsp; d</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">k&nbsp;&nbsp;
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g</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';" colspan="2">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">ʔ</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;">
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Affricate</strong></td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">ts&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';" colspan="2">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;">
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;">
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Fricative</strong></td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">f&nbsp;&nbsp;
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v</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">s&nbsp;&nbsp;
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z</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">ʃ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">χ</td>
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<td rowspan="2" style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">
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ʁ</td>
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<td rowspan="2" style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';" colspan="2">
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h&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Approximant</strong></td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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j</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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</tr>
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<tr>
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<td style="background: #f1f1f1;"><strong>Lateral Approximant</strong></td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;">
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;">
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; border-right: 1px #c1c1c1 dotted;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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l</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode';" colspan="2">&nbsp;
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</td>
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<td style="text-align: center; font: 13px 'lucida sans unicode'; background: #c1c1c1;" colspan="2">
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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The pairs /b, v/, /k, x/ and /p, f/ have historically been allophonic, as a consequence of the phenomenon of [[spirantization]] known as "''[[begadkefat]]''". 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.
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[[ayin|ע]] was once pronounced as a [[voiced pharyngeal fricative]]. Most modern [[Ashkenazi]] Jews do not differentiate between <big>[[aleph|א]]</big> and <big>ע</big>; however, [[Mizrahi Jew|Mizrahi]] Jews and Arabs pronounce these phonemes. [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] Jews pronounce it as a glottalized q. Western European [[Sephardim]] and Dutch [[Ashkenazi]]m traditionally pronounce it {{IPA|[ŋ]}} (like ''ng'' in ''sing''){{ndash}} a pronunciation which can also be found in the [[Italian Jews|Italian]] tradition and, historically, in south-west Germany.  (The remnants of this pronunciation are found throughout the Ashkenazi world, in the name "Yankl" and "Yanki", diminutive forms of [[Jacob]], Heb. <big>{{lang|he|יעקב</big>.)
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==== Historical sound changes ====
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Standard (non-Oriental) Israeli Hebrew (SIH) has undergone a number of splits and mergers in its development from [[Biblical Hebrew]].<ref>[[Robert Hetzron]]. (1987). Hebrew. In ''The World's Major Languages'', ed. [[Bernard Comrie]], 686–704. Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]. ISBN 0-19-520521-9.</ref>
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* BH {{IPA|/b/}} had two [[allophone]]s, {{IPA|[b]}} and {{IPA|[v]}}; the {{IPA|[v]}} allophone has merged with {{IPA|/w/}} into SIH {{IPA|/v/}}
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* BH {{IPA|/k/}} had two allophones, {{IPA|[k]}} and {{IPA|[x]}}; the {{IPA|[k]}} allophone has merged with {{IPA|/q/}} into SIH {{IPA|/k/}}, while the {{IPA|[x]}} allophone has merged with {{IPA|/ħ/}} into SIH {{IPA|/χ/}}
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* BH {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/tˤ/}} have merged into SIH {{IPA|/t/}}
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* BH {{IPA|/ʕ/}} and {{IPA|/ʔ/}} have usually merged into SIH {{IPA|/ʔ/}}, but this distinction may also be upheld in educated speech of many [[Sephardim]] and some [[Ashkenazim]]
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* BH {{IPA|/p/}} had two allophones, {{IPA|[p]}} and {{IPA|[f]}}; the incorporation of loanwords into Modern Hebrew has probably resulted in a split, so that {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/f/}} are separate phonemes.
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====Dagesh====
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Hebrew also has ''[[dagesh]],'' a phonological process of consonant strengthening that is indicated in fully-pointed texts by a dot placed in the center of a consonant. There are two kinds of strengthenings: light (''kal'', known also as ''dagesh lene'') and heavy (''hazak'' or ''dagesh forte''). The light version applies to the phonemes {{IPA|/b/}} {{IPA|/k/}} {{IPA|/p/}} (historically, also {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|/d/}} and {{IPA|/t/}}), causing them to be pronounced as stops rather than fricatives, and operates when the dagesh occurs in the beginning of a word or after a consonant (i.e. a silent [[shva]]).  The heavy dagesh occurs after vowels and applies to all consonants except [[guttural]]s and {{IPA|/r/}}, originally causing them to be pronounced as [[geminate]] (doubled) consonants; it also selects the stop allophone of {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/p/}}, etc. (In Modern Hebrew, gemination has disappeared, and the hence the heavy dagesh has a phonological effect only on {{IPA|/b/}} {{IPA|/k/}} {{IPA|/p/}}, affecting them the same as the light dagesh.) Traditional Hebrew grammar distinguishes two sub-categories of the heavy dagesh according to their historical origin: structural heavy (''hazak tavniti'') and complementing heavy (''hazak mashlim''). . Structural heavy dagesh corresponds to consonant doubling that was inherited from [[Proto-Semitic]], and occurs in certain verb conjugations and noun patterns (''mishkalim'' and ''binyanim''; see the section on grammar below).  Complementing heavy dagesh corresponds to consonant doubling that arose within Hebrew as a result of consonant [[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]], most commonly of an {{IPA|/n/}} to a following consonant (e.g. Biblical Hebrew {{IPA|/attā/}} "you (m. sg.)" vs. [[Classical Arabic]] {{IPA|/anta/}}).
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=== Vowels ===
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''See Also [[Niqqud]]''
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[[File:Hebrew vowel chart.svg|thumb|300px|right|The vowel phonemes of Modern Israeli Hebrew]]
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The Hebrew word for [[vowel]]s is ''tnu'ot'' (תְּנוּעוֹת). The [[orthography|orthographic]] representations for these vowels are called [[Niqqud]]. Israeli Hebrew has 5 vowel [[phoneme]]s, represented by the following Niqqud-signs:
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{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
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|-
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!rowspan=2|<small>[[phoneme]]</small>
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!rowspan=2|<small>[[Help:IPA for Hebrew|pronunciation]]&nbsp;in<br />[[Modern Hebrew|Modern&nbsp;Hebrew]]</small>
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!rowspan=2|<small>approximate&nbsp;pronunciation<br />in&nbsp;English</small>
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!colspan=3|<small>[[orthography|orthographic]] representation</small>
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|-
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!<small>"long"</small> *!!<small>"short"</small> *!!<small>"very short"</small> / <small>"interrupted"</small> *
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|-
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|/a/||[ä]||(as in "spa")
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||kamats ( ָ )
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||patach ( ַ )
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||chataf patach ( ֲ )
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|-
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|/e/
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||[e̞]
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||(as in "bet")
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||tsere male  (<span style="unicode-bidi:embed; direction:rtl;"> ֵי </span>) <small>or</small> tsere chaser ( ֵ )
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||segol ( ֶ )
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||chataf segol ( ֱ ), <small>sometimes</small> [[shva]] ( ְ )
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|-
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|/i/
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||[i]
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||(as in "ski")
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||chirik male <span style="unicode-bidi:embed; direction:rtl;">( ִי )</span>
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||chirik chaser ( ִ )
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||&nbsp;
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|-
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|/o/
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||[o̞]
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||(as in "gore")||cholam male ( וֹ ) <small>or</small> cholam chaser ( ֹ )
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||kamatz katan ( ָ )
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||chataf kamatz ( ֳ )
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|-
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|/u/
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||[u]
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||(as in "flu" but with no diphthongization)
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||shuruk (וּ)
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||kubuts ( ֻ )
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||&nbsp;
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|-
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|colspan=6|<nowiki>*</nowiki> <small>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]] (<big>ְ</big>)—as representing a sixth phoneme, /ə/.<!--
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This followig is not true. Listen to Hebrew radio via Internet with the speed turned down, and you can hear that they do use a vowel (for Shva) that is less than a segol.
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, 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.--></small>
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|}
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In [[Biblical Hebrew]], each vowel had three forms: short, long and interrupted (''chataf''). However, there is no audible distinction between the three in modern Israeli Hebrew, except that ''tsere'' is often pronounced [eɪ] as in [[Ashkenazi Hebrew]].
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==== Shva ====
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''See Also [[shva]]''
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The [[Niqqud]] sign "[[Shva]]" represents four grammatical entities: resting (''nach'' / נָח), moving (''na''' / נָע), floating (''merahef'' / מְרַחֵף) and "bleating" or "bellowing" ('ga'ya' / גַּעְיָּה). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable. However, in [[Modern Hebrew]] these distinctions are not observed. For example, the (first) [[Shva Nach]] in the word קִמַּטְתְ (fem. ''you crumpled'') is pronounced [e̞] ([kiˈmate̞t]) even though it should be mute, whereas the [[Shva Na]] in זְמַן (''time''), which theoretically should be pronounced, is usually mute ([zman]). Sometimes the shva is pronounced like a tsere when accented, as in the prefix "ve" meaning "and".
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=== Stress ===
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Hebrew has two frequent kinds of [[lexical stress]], on the last syllable (''milrá''; מלרע) and on the penultimate syllable (the one preceding the last, ''mil‘él''; מלעיל), of which the first is more frequent. Contrary to the [[Linguistic prescription|prescribed standard]], some words exhibit a stress on the antepenultimate syllable or even further back. This occurs often in [[loanwords]], e.g. פּוֹלִיטִיקָה /poˈlitika/, "politics", and sometimes in native Hebrew words, e.g. אֵיכְשֶׁהוּ <span dir=ltr><ref> [http://morfix.mako.co.il/default.aspx?q=%u05D0%u05D9%u05DB%u05E9%u05D4%u05D5 Morfix dictionary] – אֵיכְשֶׁהוּ</ref></span>/ˈeχʃehu/, "somehow"; אֵיפֹשֶׁהוּ /ˈefoʃehu/, "somewhere". Colloquial stress is also often shifted from the last syllable to the penultimate, contrary to the prescribed standard, e.g. כּוֹבַע, normative stress /koˈvaʕ/, colloquial stress /ˈkovaʕ/ "hat"; שׁוֹבָךְ normative stress /ʃoˈvaχ/, colloquial stress /ˈʃovaχ/, "[[dovecote]]". This is also common in the colloquial pronunciation of many personal names, for example דָּוִד normative stress /daˈvid/, colloquial stress /ˈdavid/, "[[David]]".<ref>Netser, Nisan, ''Niqqud halakha le-maase'', 1976, p. 11.</ref>
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Specific rules correlate the location or absence of stress in a syllable with the written representation of [[vowel length]] and whether or not the syllable ends with a [[vowel]] or a [[consonant]].<ref>Theses rules are sometimes slightly different for verbs and nouns; thus the stress in the noun דָּבָר (/daˈvar/, "thing") and the verb גָּבַר (/ɡaˈvar/ "to overpower") are both on the last syllable, even though this syllable is [[Niqqud|pointed]] with the sign for a long vowel for the noun and for a short vowel for the verb. Modern classification of [[Niqqud|vowel diacritics]] according to the vowel length they allegedly denote, however, might not concur with the historically correct phonological distinction between vowel lengths, see [[Tiberian vocalization#Full vowels|Tiberian vocalization → Full vowels]].</ref> Since spoken Israeli Hebrew does not distinguish between long and short vowels, these rules are not evident in speech. They usually cannot be inferred from written text either, since usually vowel diacritics are omitted. The result is that nowadays stress has phonemic value, as the following table illustrates: acoustically, the following word pairs differ only in the location of the stress; orthographically they differ also in the written representation of the length of the vowels, however if vowel diacritics are omitted (as is usually the case in Modern Israeli Hebrew) they are written identically:
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{|class=wikitable
 +
|-
 +
!rowspan=2|<small>common spelling<br />([[Ktiv Hasar Niqqud]])</small>
 +
!colspan=3|<small>''mil‘él''-stressed</small>
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!colspan=3|<small>''milrá''-stressed</small>
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|-
 +
!<small>spelling with [[niqqud|vowel diacritics]]</small>
 +
!<small>pronunciation</small>
 +
!<small>translation</small>
 +
!<small>spelling with [[niqqud|vowel diacritics]]</small>
 +
!<small>pronunciation</small>
 +
!<small>translation</small>
 +
|-
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|ילד||יֶלֶד||/ˈjeled/||boy||יֵלֵד||/jeˈled/||will give birth
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|-
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|אוכל||<font face="david"><big>אֹכֶל</big></font>||{{IPA|/ˈoχel/}}||food||אוֹכֵל||{{IPA|/oˈχel/}}||eating (masculine singular participle)
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|-
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|בוקר||<font face="david"><big>בֹּקֶר</big></font>||/ˈbokeʁ/||morning||בּוֹקֵר||/boˈkeʁ/||cowboy
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Little ambiguity exists, however, due to context and syntactic features; compare e.g. the English word "conduct" in its nominal and verbal forms.

Revision as of 12:11, 11 January 2014

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered the Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by most of the seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over two thousand years. It is one of the official languages of Israel, along with Arabic. Ancient Hebrew is also the liturgical tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Palestinian Arabic is their vernacular, though today about 700 Samaritans remain. As a foreign language it is studied mostly by Jews and students of Judaism and Israel, archaeologists and linguists specializing in the Middle East and its civilizations, by theologians, and in Christian seminaries.

The core of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) is written in Classical Hebrew, and much of its present form is specifically the dialect of Biblical Hebrew that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, around the time of the Babylonian exile. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon HaKodesh (לשון הקודש), "The Holy Tongue", since ancient times.

Contents

The name of the language

The modern word "Hebrew" is derived from the word "ivri" (plural "ivrim") one of several names for the Jewish people. It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham's ancestor, Eber mentioned in Genesis 10:21. This name is possibly based upon the root "`avar" (עבר) meaning "to cross over" and homiletical interpretations of the term "ivrim" link it to this verb. In the Bible "Hebrew" is called Yehudith (יהודית) because Judah (Yehuda) was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation, late 8th century BCE (Isaiah 36, 2 Kings 18). In Isaiah 19:18, it is also called the "Language of Canaan" (שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן)

Phonology

See Also Hebrew phonology

Consonants

The Hebrew word for consonants is ‘itsurim (עיצורים). The following table lists the Hebrew consonants and their pronunciation in IPA transcription:

Consonants
Note: The voiceless

consonants in left,
and The voiced

consonants in right.		 Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryn-
geal
Bilabial Labio-
Dental		 Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal      m          n        
Plosive p   b     t   d     k   g   ʔ
Affricate       ts            
Fricative   f   v   s   z ʃ         χ ʁ h   
Approximant              j    
Lateral Approximant        l        

The pairs /b, v/, /k, x/ and /p, f/ have historically been allophonic, as a consequence of the phenomenon of spirantization known as "begadkefat". 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.

ע was once pronounced as a voiced pharyngeal fricative. Most modern Ashkenazi Jews do not differentiate between א and ע; however, Mizrahi Jews and Arabs pronounce these phonemes. Georgian Jews pronounce it as a glottalized q. Western European Sephardim and Dutch Ashkenazim traditionally pronounce it [ŋ] (like ng in sing)Template:Ndash a pronunciation which can also be found in the Italian tradition and, historically, in south-west Germany. (The remnants of this pronunciation are found throughout the Ashkenazi world, in the name "Yankl" and "Yanki", diminutive forms of Jacob, Heb. {{lang|he|יעקב.)

Historical sound changes

Standard (non-Oriental) Israeli Hebrew (SIH) has undergone a number of splits and mergers in its development from Biblical Hebrew.<ref>Robert Hetzron. (1987). Hebrew. In The World's Major Languages, ed. Bernard Comrie, 686–704. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-520521-9.</ref>

  • BH /b/ had two allophones, [b] and [v]; the [v] allophone has merged with /w/ into SIH /v/
  • BH /k/ had two allophones, [k] and [x]; the [k] allophone has merged with /q/ into SIH /k/, while the [x] allophone has merged with /ħ/ into SIH /χ/
  • BH /t/ and /tˤ/ have merged into SIH /t/
  • BH /ʕ/ and /ʔ/ have usually merged into SIH /ʔ/, but this distinction may also be upheld in educated speech of many Sephardim and some Ashkenazim
  • BH /p/ had two allophones, [p] and [f]; the incorporation of loanwords into Modern Hebrew has probably resulted in a split, so that /p/ and /f/ are separate phonemes.

Dagesh

Hebrew also has dagesh, a phonological process of consonant strengthening that is indicated in fully-pointed texts by a dot placed in the center of a consonant. There are two kinds of strengthenings: light (kal, known also as dagesh lene) and heavy (hazak or dagesh forte). The light version applies to the phonemes /b/ /k/ /p/ (historically, also /ɡ/, /d/ and /t/), causing them to be pronounced as stops rather than fricatives, and operates when the dagesh occurs in the beginning of a word or after a consonant (i.e. a silent shva). The heavy dagesh occurs after vowels and applies to all consonants except gutturals and /r/, originally causing them to be pronounced as geminate (doubled) consonants; it also selects the stop allophone of /b/, /k/, /p/, etc. (In Modern Hebrew, gemination has disappeared, and the hence the heavy dagesh has a phonological effect only on /b/ /k/ /p/, affecting them the same as the light dagesh.) Traditional Hebrew grammar distinguishes two sub-categories of the heavy dagesh according to their historical origin: structural heavy (hazak tavniti) and complementing heavy (hazak mashlim). . Structural heavy dagesh corresponds to consonant doubling that was inherited from Proto-Semitic, and occurs in certain verb conjugations and noun patterns (mishkalim and binyanim; see the section on grammar below). Complementing heavy dagesh corresponds to consonant doubling that arose within Hebrew as a result of consonant assimilation, most commonly of an /n/ to a following consonant (e.g. Biblical Hebrew /attā/ "you (m. sg.)" vs. Classical Arabic /anta/).

Vowels

See Also Niqqud

thumb|300px|right|The vowel phonemes of Modern Israeli Hebrew 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](as in "spa") kamats ( ָ ) patach ( ַ ) chataf patach ( ֲ )
/e/ [e̞] (as in "bet") tsere male ( ֵי ) or tsere chaser ( ֵ ) segol ( ֶ ) chataf segol ( ֱ ), sometimes shva ( ְ )
/i/ [i] (as in "ski") chirik male ( ִי ) chirik chaser ( ִ )  
/o/ [o̞] (as in "gore")cholam male ( וֹ ) or cholam chaser ( ֹ ) kamatz katan ( ָ ) chataf kamatz ( ֳ )
/u/ [u] (as in "flu" but with no diphthongization) 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/.

In Biblical Hebrew, each vowel had three forms: short, long and interrupted (chataf). However, there is no audible distinction between the three in modern Israeli Hebrew, except that tsere is often pronounced [eɪ] as in Ashkenazi Hebrew.

Shva

See Also shva

The Niqqud sign "Shva" represents four grammatical entities: resting (nach / נָח), moving (na' / נָע), floating (merahef / מְרַחֵף) and "bleating" or "bellowing" ('ga'ya' / גַּעְיָּה). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable. However, in Modern Hebrew these distinctions are not observed. For example, the (first) Shva Nach in the word קִמַּטְתְ (fem. you crumpled) is pronounced [e̞] ([kiˈmate̞t]) even though it should be mute, whereas the Shva Na in זְמַן (time), which theoretically should be pronounced, is usually mute ([zman]). Sometimes the shva is pronounced like a tsere when accented, as in the prefix "ve" meaning "and".

Stress

Hebrew has two frequent kinds of lexical stress, on the last syllable (milrá; מלרע) and on the penultimate syllable (the one preceding the last, mil‘él; מלעיל), of which the first is more frequent. Contrary to the prescribed standard, some words exhibit a stress on the antepenultimate syllable or even further back. This occurs often in loanwords, e.g. פּוֹלִיטִיקָה /poˈlitika/, "politics", and sometimes in native Hebrew words, e.g. אֵיכְשֶׁהוּ <ref> Morfix dictionary – אֵיכְשֶׁהוּ</ref>/ˈeχʃehu/, "somehow"; אֵיפֹשֶׁהוּ /ˈefoʃehu/, "somewhere". Colloquial stress is also often shifted from the last syllable to the penultimate, contrary to the prescribed standard, e.g. כּוֹבַע, normative stress /koˈvaʕ/, colloquial stress /ˈkovaʕ/ "hat"; שׁוֹבָךְ normative stress /ʃoˈvaχ/, colloquial stress /ˈʃovaχ/, "dovecote". This is also common in the colloquial pronunciation of many personal names, for example דָּוִד normative stress /daˈvid/, colloquial stress /ˈdavid/, "David".<ref>Netser, Nisan, Niqqud halakha le-maase, 1976, p. 11.</ref>

Specific rules correlate the location or absence of stress in a syllable with the written representation of vowel length and whether or not the syllable ends with a vowel or a consonant.<ref>Theses rules are sometimes slightly different for verbs and nouns; thus the stress in the noun דָּבָר (/daˈvar/, "thing") and the verb גָּבַר (/ɡaˈvar/ "to overpower") are both on the last syllable, even though this syllable is pointed with the sign for a long vowel for the noun and for a short vowel for the verb. Modern classification of vowel diacritics according to the vowel length they allegedly denote, however, might not concur with the historically correct phonological distinction between vowel lengths, see Tiberian vocalization → Full vowels.</ref> Since spoken Israeli Hebrew does not distinguish between long and short vowels, these rules are not evident in speech. They usually cannot be inferred from written text either, since usually vowel diacritics are omitted. The result is that nowadays stress has phonemic value, as the following table illustrates: acoustically, the following word pairs differ only in the location of the stress; orthographically they differ also in the written representation of the length of the vowels, however if vowel diacritics are omitted (as is usually the case in Modern Israeli Hebrew) they are written identically:

common spelling
(Ktiv Hasar Niqqud) 		mil‘él-stressed milrá-stressed
spelling with vowel diacritics pronunciation translation spelling with vowel diacritics pronunciation translation
ילדיֶלֶד/ˈjeled/boyיֵלֵד/jeˈled/will give birth
אוכלאֹכֶל/ˈoχel/foodאוֹכֵל/oˈχel/eating (masculine singular participle)
בוקרבֹּקֶר/ˈbokeʁ/morningבּוֹקֵר/boˈkeʁ/cowboy

Little ambiguity exists, however, due to context and syntactic features; compare e.g. the English word "conduct" in its nominal and verbal forms.

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