Tiberian Hebrew
Tiberian Hebrew is the canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh committed to writing by Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Galilee under the Abbasid Caliphate. They wrote in the form of Tiberian vocalization, which employed diacritics added to the Hebrew letters: vowel signs and consonant diacritics and the so-called accents. These together with the marginal notes masora magna and masora parva make up the Tiberian apparatus.
Though the written vowels and accents came into use in around 750 CE, the oral tradition that they reflect is many centuries older, with ancient roots.
Phonology
Consonants
Tiberian Hebrew has 29 consonantal phonemes, represented by 22 letters. The sin dot distinguishes between the two values of, with a dot on the left being pronounced the same as the letter Samekh. The letters had two values each: plosive and fricative.The following are the most salient characteristics of the Tiberian Hebrew consonantal pronunciation:
- Waw ו conjunctive was read, before the labial vowels and shva, as אוּ, rather than וֻ .
- The threefold pronunciation of Resh ר. Even though there is no agreement as to how it was pronounced, the rules of distribution of such pronunciation is given in הורית הקורא Horayath haQoré:
- A possible threefold pronunciation of Taw ת. There are three words in the Torah, Prophets, and Writings in which it is said that "the Taw is pronounced harder than usual". It is said that this pronunciation was halfway between the soft Taw ת and the hard Taw תּ : וַיְשִׂימֶהָ תֵּל
Vowels
- marginal
The Tiberian tradition possesses three reduced vowels of which has questionable phonemicity., under a non-guttural letter, was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel before a guttural and as preceding,. However, it was always pronounced as under gutturals: חֲיִי.
Stress
Tiberian Hebrew has phonemic stress. Stress is most commonly ultimate, less commonly penultimate, and rarely antipenultimate stress: הָאֹ֫הֱלָה 'into the tent'.Phonotactics
As described above, vowel length is dependent on syllable structure. Open syllables must take long or ultrashort vowels; stressed closed syllables take long vowels; unstressed closed syllables take short vowels. Traditional Hebrew philology considers ultrashort vowels not to be syllable nuclei.Orthography
| letter | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| transliteration | ʾ | b/v | g/gh | d/dh | h | w | z | ḥ | ṭ | y | k/kh | l | m | n | s | ʿ | p/f | ṣ | q | r | š, ś | t/th |
| pronunciation | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronunciation | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| pronunciation |
| niqqud with ב | |||||||
| name | pathaḥ male | seghol male | ṣere male | ḥireq male | qamaṣ male | ḥolam male | shuruq male |
| pronunciation |
| niqqud with א | ||||
| name | shwa | ḥaṭaf pathaḥ | ḥaṭaf seghol | ḥaṭaf qamaṣ |
| pronunciation |
| niqqud | |||||
| name | daghesh | rafe | mapiq | shin dot | sin dot |
| pronunciation | Gemination of a consonant, or the stop pronunciation of the בגדכפ״ת consonants | Fricative pronunciation of the בגדכפ״ת consonants | , being the last letter of a word |
The simple sheva sign changes its pronunciation depending on its position in the word and its proximity to certain consonants.
In these examples, it has been preferred to show one in the Bible and represents each phenomenon in a graphic manner, but the rules still apply when there is only a simple sheva.
When the simple sheva appears in any of the following positions, it is regarded as mobile :
- At the beginning of a word, which includes the sheva following the attached particles bi-,ki-,li- and u- and preceded by metheg. Examples: וּזֲהַב Genesis 2:12; בִּסֲבָךְ Psalms 74:5. But is not pronounced if there is no metheg; that is, they form a closed syllable.
- The sheva following these three vowels, except for known types of closed syllables. Examples: נֵלֲכָה-נָּא Exodus 3:18; אֵלֲכָה נָּא Exodus 4:18.
- The second of two adjacent shevas, when both appear under different consonants. Examples: אֶכְתֲּבֶנּוּ Jeremiah 31:33; וָאֶשְׁקֲלָה-לֹּו Jeremiah 32:9.
- The sheva under the first of two identical consonants, preceded by metheg. Examples: בְּחַצֲצֹן Gen. 14:7; צָלֲלוּ Exodus: 15:10.
- The sheva under a consonant with dagesh forte or lene. Examples: סֻבֳּלוֹ Isaiah 9:3; אֶשְׁתֳּלֶנּוּ Ezekiel 17:23.
- The sheva under a consonant that expects gemination but is not so marked, for example, the one found under ר. And sometimes even מ when preceded by the article. Examples: מְבָרֲכֶיךָ Genesis 12:3; הַמֲדַבְּרִים 2 Chronicles 33:18.
- In case a quiescent sheva was followed either by a guttural or yodh, it would turn into mobile according to the rules given below, if preceded by a metheg. Ancient manuscripts support that view. Examples: נִבֳהָל Proverbs 28:22; שִׁבֲעַת Job 1:3.
- Any sheva, if the sign metheg is attached to it, would change an ultrashort vowel to a short, or normal length vowel. For this, only ancient, reliable manuscripts can give us a clear picture, since, with time, later vocalizers added to the number of methegs found in the Bible.
- It would change its sound to imitate that of the following guttural. וּקֳהָת Numbers 3:17; וְנִזְרֳעָה Numbers 5:28.
- It would be pronounced as ḥireq before consonantal yodh. Examples: יִרְמִיָהוּ Jeremiah 21:1; עִנִייָן in Maimonides' autograph in his commentary to the Mishnah.
All other cases should be treated as zero vowel, including the double final sheva, and the sheva in the words שְׁתַּיִם and שְׁנַיִם, read by the Tiberian Masoretes as אֶשְׁתַּיִם and אֶשְׁנַיִם respectively. This last case has similarities with phenomena occurring in the Samaritan pronunciation and the Phoenician language.
Depending on the school of pronunciation, the metheg sign served to change some closed syllables into open ones, and therefore, changing the vowel from short to long, and the quiescent sheva, into a mobile one.
That is referenced specifically by medieval grammarians:
The names of the vowel diacritics are iconic and show some variation: