John C. Beckman

א2 . Hebrew Vowels

Reading Biblical HebrewChapter 2: Vowels

2016-08-14

Goal: Prepare to Memorize Hebrew Vowels

Be able to:• Vowel symbol name, class, and sound• Vowel name symbol, class, and sound• Vowel class names & symbols, sound• Defective form plene forms

Issues:• Vowel letters, Shva, , furtive pataḥ

Caveat:• This is a fairly common modern Hebrew pronunciation.• Pronunciation varies over time, people group, accent, and

surrounding consonants.

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Each Vowel is Written with Its Consonant

Almost every consonant has a vowel symbol• The last letter of a word can lack a vowel symbol לקט • Alef can lack a vowel ת אקר

Vowels never occur without a preceding consonant• Only 1 exception: conjunction ו written as shuruq ו

Vowel is written with its consonant• Under א א א א א א א א א א • Left או או• Top left א

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A Vowel is Pronounced After Its Consonant

Hebrew is Right-to-Left (RTL)• קטל is QTL

A vowel is pronounced after its consonant• ל ט ק is QOTEL

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Every Vowel is the First Vowel in its Hebrew Name

The first vowel in a vowel name is that vowel• E.g., is named תח פ or תח פ • E.g., is named בוץ ק

Exceptions:• Some vowels with compound names is ף ט גולח ס • Sometimes plene forms are used can be ץקובו• Alternate names don’t follow this can be בו ץק

Vowel names vary slightly in pronunciation and spelling!• Be able to recognize names despite minor variations

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Vowel Letters are Named by Their Components

Vowel letters• Vowels with a 2-part symbol• The second part is a consonant י ה ו◌

In the names of vowel letters,the ‘regular vowel’ goes first, then the ‘consonant part’• ה is ה + ץ) אה +קמ ), so it is named אה ץקמ • ו is + ו so it is named ,(וו +חולם) ווםחול

Exception• ו◌ is named שורוק shuruq

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English Names of Vowels Follow the Hebrew Names

English names of vowels follow the Hebrew names.• E.g., Write the name גול ס using English letters = segol

Conversion of the names to English letters varies:• E.g., The name of . גול) is written several ways in English (ס

• segol• seggol• seggôl• seghol, seghôl גול) (ס

Be able to recognize vowel names despite spelling variations

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Vowel Class Sets Pronunciation

A-class vowels ה • Pronounce like the a in latte low front unrounded

E-class vowels ה י ה י • Pronounce like the e in bet high-mid front unrounded

I-class vowels י • Pronounce like the ee in free high front unrounded

O-class vowels ו ה◌ • Pronounce like the o in go high-mid back rounded

U-class vowels ו◌ • Pronounce like the oo in goo high back rounded

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Vowel Classes Group Together

A-class vowels ה EI-class vowels• E-(sub)class ה י ה י • I-(sub)class י

OU-class vowels• O-(sub)class ו ה◌ • U-(sub)class ו◌

Vowels can switch, but only within the class• E.g., can become , but not or • E.g., can become , but not or • E.g., can become , but not or

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Shva Has No Class

Shva looks like a colon under a consonant• shva וא ש

There are two types of shva• Vocal shva ( וא נעש ‘moving shva’) is a vowel

• Pronounce it like an e-class vowel• Silent shva ( וא נחש ‘resting shva’) is not a vowel

• It indicates that a consonant has no vowel at all• E.g., ת ל קט is qatalt, just like לת קט

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Distinguishing Silent and Vocal Shva

Shva at the beginning of a word is always vocal• Otherwise, you couldn’t pronounce it.• הו םת . begins with vocal shva: tehom, not t-hom

Shva at the end of a word is always silent• ש ךח ends with silent shva: ḥoshekh, not ḥoshekhe

Shva in the middle can be either• The rules differ for biblical Hebrew and modern Hebrew• The scribes who added the vowels didn’t distinguish them• Little payoff, so we won’t learn the rules

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A-Class Vowels

Pronounce like the a in latte low front unrounded

Regular vowels• qamats ץ קמ • pataḥ תח פ • ḥataf pataḥ טף תחח פ

Vowel letters• ה qamats he אה ץקמ

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E-Class Vowels

Pronounce like the e in bet high-mid front unrounded

Regular vowels• tsere ה יר צ • segol גול ס • ḥataf segol גול טף ס ח

Vowel letters• ה tsere he ה יר אה צ • ה segol he גול ה אס • י tsere yod ה יוד יר צ • י segol yod גול יוד ס

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I-Class Vowels

Pronounce like the ee in free high front unrounded

Regular vowels• ḥiriq יק יר ח

Vowel letters• י ḥiriq yod יק יוד יר ח

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O-Class Vowels

Pronounce like the o in go high-mid back rounded

Regular vowels• ḥolam חולם• qamats qatan ץ קטן קמ • ḥataf qamats ץ טף קמ ח

Vowel letters• ו◌ ḥolam vav חולם וו• ḥolam he ה אה חולם

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U-Class Vowels

Pronounce like the oo in goo high back rounded

Regular vowels• qubuts בוץ ק

Vowel letters• ו◌ shuruq שורוק

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Qamats or Qamats Qatan?

The symbol is ambiguous• A-class vowel qamats, pronounced like the a in latte• O-class vowel qamats qatan (‘small qamats’),

pronounced like the o in goHow do we know which it is?• Qamats is far more common than qamats qatan• Assume it is qamats except when told otherwise• Rules (low priority):

• Qamats qatan if followed by (both are o-class)• Qamats qatan in closed, unaccented syllable• Qamats otherwise

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Furtive Pataḥ

A vowel is pronounced after its consonant• ל ט ק is QOTEL

EXCEPT furtive pataḥ• Pataḥ under word-final ח or ע . gets furtive pataḥ

• Offset to the right י ח רק ע רוח נ • Pronounced before the ח or ע

• Offset indicates that it is pronounced earlyFurtive pataḥ means nothing• Just a pronunciation aid• Disappears if ע/ח . not word final י.←רוח רוח • Not used if vowel preceding ע/ח . is a-type ח לק

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Reduced Vowels = Vocal Shva + Ḥataf vowels

Vocal Shva• Vocal shva

Ḥataf vowels• Made of a vowel + shva • Used only under gutturals ( עהחא )• Gutturals always use ḥataf vowels instead of vocal shva• Ḥataf vowels are what vocal shva looks like under a guttural

Reduced vowels work as a group• If you see a ḥataf vowel, think of it as vocal shva• Qamats and tsere can ‘reduce’ ( or / / )• If a word tries to put 2 reduced vowels in a row changes

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Traditional System of Vowel Length

Traditional system of dividing vowels by length• Reduced: • Short: • Long: • Usually short, sometimes long: • Vowel letters are long ה י י ה ה ו◌ו ◌

• Except ה is shortWe will not memorize this• Little payoff• Not original

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Vowel Letters&

Plene vs. Defective Spelling

Vowels Added Over Time

Final vowel letters (‘matres’) begin 8th century BC• י and ,ו ,ה are added when words end in a vowel

Internal vowel letters (‘matres’) begin 7th century BC• ו and י added for certain vowels in the middle of words

Regular vowels, accents, and other marks begin 7th century AD• Regular vowels combined with pre-existing vowel letters

Example: Exodus 15:11פלאעש תהלת נרא ... יהו מ כמכ באלם •פלאהנרא תהלת עש... הבאלם יהוהכמכימ•עשה פלאתהלת רא ונ... באלם יהוה מי כמכה •כה • י־כמ ה מ הו ם י ל א א ... ב אנור ל ה פ ש ת ע ל ה ׃ת

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Vowel Letter = Regular Vowel + ו ,ה, or יThe ‘regular’ vowels were added to pre-existing vowel letters

נרא תהלת עש פלא... מ כמכ באלם יהו •פלאהרא תהלת עשונ... הבאלם יהוהכמכימ•ה • הו ם י ל א כה ב י־כמ א... מ ל ה פ ש ת ע ל ה א ת ׃נור

The combination of the two is now called a vowel letter• ה is used at the end of words only: ה ה ה ה • י is used anywhere: י י י • ו is used anywhere: ו◌ו ◌

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Plene vs. Defective Spelling

First vowel letters were added, then regular vowelsנרא תהלת עש פלא... מ כמכ באלם יהו •פלאהרא תהלת עשונ... הבאלם יהוהכמכימ•כה • י־כמ ה מ הו ם י ל א א... ב ל ה פ ש ת ע ל ה א ת ׃נור

BUT, scribes were inconsistent in adding the vowel letters• Sometimes they didn’t put them in when they could have.• E.g., באלם could have become םילאב , but it didn’t.

• So two options: םל א ב . or יא ב םל • E.g., אנר . could have stayed אנר . instead of becoming אנור

• So two options: אנור . or ר אנ Plene spelling has a vowel letter. Defective spelling omits it.

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Plene-Defective Groups

Defective Plene with י Plene with ו Plene with ה

ה י ה י ה י ו◌ ה ו◌

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Be Able to Recognize Either Plene or Defective

You will memorize words and forms either defective or plene• We memorize whichever is most common for that word

Be able to recognize words either way• Memorize י בא ‘enemy’, but recognize וי בא too• Memorize טהור ‘clean’, but recognize טה ר also

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