Biblical Hebrew phonology

Biblical Hebrew phonology is the sound system of the Biblical Hebrew language. It is reconstructed as follows:

Consonants

Consonants lost and gained during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew are color-coded respectively.

The phonetic nature of some Biblical Hebrew consonants is disputed. The so called "emphatics" were likely ejective, but possibly pharyngealized or velarized.^[3][4] Some argue that /s, z, sʼ/ were affricated (/ts, dz, tsʼ/).^[3]

Originally, the Hebrew letters ח and ע each had two possible phonemes, uvular and pharyngeal, unmarked in Hebrew orthography. However the uvular phonemes /χ/ ח and /ʁ/ ע merged with their pharyngeal ones /ħ/ ח and /ʕ/ ע respectively c. 200 BCE. This is observed by noting that these phonemes are distinguished consistently in the Septuagint of the Pentateuch (e.g. Isaac יצחק = Ἰσαάκ versus Rachel רחל = Ῥαχήλ), but this becomes more sporadic in later books and is generally absent in Ezra and Nehemiah.^[5][6]

The phoneme /ɬ/, also unmarked by Hebrew orthography, is attested by internal and comparative evidence; in particular it is preserved as a lateral fricative in Modern South Arabian dialects.^[7] /ɬ/ began merging with /s/ in Late Biblical Hebrew, as indicated by interchange of orthographic ⟨ש⟩ and ⟨ס⟩, possibly under the influence of Aramaic, and this became the rule in Mishnaic Hebrew.^[1][4] In all Jewish reading traditions /ɬ/ and /s/ have merged completely; however in Samaritan Hebrew /ɬ/ has instead merged with /ʃ/.^[1]

Allophonic spirantization of /b ɡ d k p t/ to [v ɣ ð x f θ] (known as begadkefat spirantization) developed sometime during the lifetime of Biblical Hebrew under the influence of Aramaic.^{[nb 1]} This probably happened after the original Old Aramaic phonemes /θ, ð/ disappeared in the 7th century BCE,^[8] and most likely occurred after the loss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BCE.^{[nb 2]} It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by the 2nd century CE.^[9] After a certain point this alternation became marginally phonemic in word-medial and final position, but in word-initial position they remained allophonic.^[10] This is evidenced both by the Tiberian vocalization's consistent use of word-initial spirants after a vowel in sandhi, as well as Rabbi Saadia Gaon's attestation to the use of this alternation in Tiberian Aramaic at the beginning of the 10th century CE.^[10]

The Dead Sea scrolls show evidence of confusion of the phonemes /ħ ʕ h ʔ/, e.g. חמר ħmr for Masoretic אָמַר /ʔɔˈmar/ 'he said'.^[11] However the testimony of Jerome indicates that this was a regionalism and not universal.^[12] Confusion of gutturals was also attested in later Mishnaic Hebrew and Aramaic (see Eruvin 53b). In Samaritan Hebrew, /ʔ ħ h ʕ/ have generally all merged, either into /ʔ/, a glide, or null, often creating a long vowel, except that original /ʕ ħ/ sometimes have reflex /ʕ/ before /a ɒ/.^[13]

Geminate consonants are phonemically contrastive in Biblical Hebrew. In the Secunda /w j z/ are never geminate.^[14] In the Tiberian tradition /ħ ʕ h ʔ ʀ/ cannot be geminate; historically first /ʀ ʔ/ degeminated, followed by /ʕ/, /h/, and finally /ħ/, as evidenced by changes in the quality of the preceding vowel.^{[15][nb 3]}

Vowels

The vowel system of Biblical Hebrew has changed considerably over time. The following vowels are those reconstructed for the earliest stage of Hebrew, those attested by the Secunda, those of the various vocalization traditions (Tiberian and varieties of Babylonian and Palestinian), and those of the Samaritan tradition, with vowels absent in some traditions color-coded

Proto-Semitic likely had a vowel system with three qualities and two lengths, i.e. */a aː i iː u uː/, where the long vowels only occurred in open syllables.^[28][29] Later, final unstressed short vowels dropped out in some words, making it possible for long vowels to occur in closed syllables. Hebrew shows the Canaanite shift whereby */aː/ often shifted to /oː/); the conditions of this shift are disputed.^{[30][nb 6]} This shift had occurred by the 14th century BCE, as demonstrated by its presence in the Amarna letters (c. 1365 BCE).^[31][32] The Proto-Hebrew vowel system is thus reconstructed as */a aː oː i iː u uː/ (and possibly rare */eː/).^[16]

The short vowels */a i u/ tended to lengthen in various positions: first in pretonic position in an open syllable, and later in stressed open syllables.^{[33][nb 7][nb 8]} In the Secunda, their lengthened reflexes are /aː eː oː/; when kept short they generally have reflexes /a e o/.^{[34][nb 9][nb 10]} */a i u/ were reduced to /ə/ in the second syllable before the stress,^[17] in stressed open syllables (e.g. קטלו /qaːtʼəˈluː/ < */qaˈtʼaluː/),^[33] and occasionally reduced rather than lengthened in pretonic position (e.g. σεμω = שמו).^{[35][nb 11]} Thus the vowel system of the Secunda was /a e eː o oː iː uː ə/.^[17]

The later Jewish traditions (Tiberian, Babylonian, Palestinian) show similar vowel developments. By the Tiberian time, all short vowels in stressed syllables and open pretonic lengthened, making vowel length allophonic.^{[36][nb 12][37]} Vowels in open or stressed syllables had allophonic length (e.g. /a/ in יְרַחֵם, which was previously short).^{[37][nb 13]} The Babylonian and Palestinian vocalizations systems also do not mark vowel length.^[24][38][39] In the Tiberian and Babylonian systems, */aː/ and lengthened */a/ become the back vowel /ɔ/.^[24][40] In unaccented closed syllables, */i u/ become /ɛ~i ɔ~u/ (Tiberian), /a~i u/ (Babylonian), or /e~i o~u/ (Palestinian) – generally becoming the second vowel before geminates (e.g. לִבִּי) and the first otherwise.^{[24][25][40][41][nb 14]} In the Tiberian tradition pretonic vowels are reduced more commonly than in the Secunda. It does not occur for /*a/, but is occasional for /*i/ (e.g. מסמְרים 'nails' < */masmiriːm/), and is common for /*u/ (e.g. רְחוֹב 'open place' < */ruħaːb/).^[35][42] In Tiberian Hebrew pretonic /*u/ is most commonly preserved by geminating the following consonant, e.g. אדֻמּים 'red (pl.)'; this pretonic gemination is also found in some forms with other vowels like אַסִּיר~אָסִיר 'prisoner'.^[43]

The Babylonian and Palestinian systems have only one reduced vowel phoneme /ə/ like the Secunda, though in Palestinian Hebrew it developed the pronunciation [ɛ].^[17][24][44] However the Tiberian tradition possesses three reduced vowels /ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/ of which /ɛ̆/ has questionable phonemicity.^{[45][46][nb 15]} /ă/ under a non-guttural letter was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel before a guttural, e.g. וּבָקְעָה [uvɔqɔ̆ˈʕɔ], and as [ĭ] preceding /j/, e.g. תְדֵמְּיוּ֫נִי [θăðammĭˈjuni], but was always pronounced as [ă] under gutturals, e.g. שָחֲחו, חֲיִי‎.^[47][48] When reduced, etymological */a i u/ become /ă ɛ̆~ă ɔ̆/ under gutturals (e.g. אֲמרתם 'you (mp.) said" cf. אָמר 'he said'), and generally /ă/ under non-gutturals, but */u/ > /ɔ̆/ (and rarely */i/ > /ɛ̆/) may still occur, especially after stops (or their spirantized counterparts) and /sʼ ʃ/ (e.g. דֳּמִי /dɔ̆mi/).^[49][50] Samaritan and Qumran Hebrew have full vowels in place of the reduced vowels of Tiberian Hebrew.^[51]

Samaritan Hebrew also does not reflect etymological vowel length; however the elision of guttural consonants has created new phonemic vowel length, e.g. /rɒb/ רב 'great' vs. /rɒːb/ רחב 'wide'.^[52] Samaritan Hebrew vowels are allophonically lengthened (to a lesser degree) in open syllables, e.g. המצרי [ammisˤriˑ], היא [iˑ], though this is less strong in post-tonic vowels.^[52] Pretonic gemination is also found in Samaritan Hebrew, but not always in the same locations as in Tiberian Hebrew, e.g. גמלים TH /ɡămalːim/ SH /ɡɒmɒləm/; שלמים TH /ʃălɔmim/ SH /ʃelamːəm/.^[53] While Proto-Hebrew long vowels usually retain their vowel quality in the later traditions of Hebrew,^[40][54] in Samaritan Hebrew */iː/ may have reflex /e/ in closed stressed syllables, e.g. דין /den/, */aː/ may become either /a/ or /ɒ/,^[55] and */oː/ > /u/.^[55] The reduced vowels of the other traditions appear as full vowels, though there may be evidence that Samaritan Hebrew once had similar vowel reduction. Samaritan /ə/ results from the neutralization of the distinction between /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. /bit/ בית 'house' /abbət/ הבית 'the house' /ɡer/ גר /aɡɡər/ הגר‎.^[27]

Various more specific conditioned shifts of vowel quality have also occurred. Diphthongs were frequently monopthongized, but the scope and results of this shift varied dialectually. In particular, the Samaria ostraca show /jeːn/ < */jajn/ for Southern /jajin/ 'wine', and Samaritan Hebrew shows instead the shift */aj/ > /iː/.^[56][57] Original */u/ tended to shift to /i/ (e.g. אֹמֶר and אִמְרָה 'word'; חוץ 'outside' and חיצון 'outer') beginning in the second half of the second millennium BCE.^[58] This was carried through completely in Samaritan Hebrew but met more resistance in other traditions such as the Babylonian and Qumran traditions.^[58] Philippi's law is the process by which original */i/ in closed stressed syllables shifts to /a/ (e,g, /*bint/ > בַּת /bat/ 'daughter'), or sometimes in the Tiberian tradition /ɛ/ (e.g. /*ʔamint/ > אֱמֶת /ɛ̆mɛt/ 'truth').^{[59][nb 16]} This is absent in the transcriptions of the Secunda,^[60] but there is evidence that the law's onset predates the Secunda. In the Samaritan tradition Philippi's law is applied consistently, e.g. */libː-u/ > /lab/ 'heart'.^{[61][nb 17]} In some traditions the short vowel /*a/ tended to shift to /i/ in unstressed closed syllables: this is known as the law of attenuation. It is common in the Tiberian tradition, e.g. */ʃabʕat/ > Tiberian שִבְעָה /ʃivˈʕɔ/ 'seven', but exceptions are frequent.^[62] It is less common in the Babylonian vocalization, e.g. /ʃabʕɔ/ 'seven', and differences in Greek and Latin transcriptions demonstrate that it began quite late.^[62] Attenuation generally did not occur before /i~e/, e.g. Tiberian מַפְתֵּחַ /mafˈteaħ/ 'key' versus מִפְתַּח /mifˈtaħ/ 'opening (construct)', and often was blocked before a geminate, e.g. מתנה 'gift'.^[62] Attenuation is rarely present in Samaritan Hebrew, e.g. מקדש /maqdaʃ/.^{[63][nb 18]} In the Tiberian tradition /e i o u/ take offglide /a/ before /h ħ ʕ/.^{[64][nb 19]} This is absent in the Secunda and in Samaritan Hebrew but present in the transcriptions of Jerome.^[57][65] In the Tiberian tradition an ultrashort echo vowel is sometimes added to clusters where the first element is a guttural, e.g. יַאֲזִין /jaʔăzin/ 'he will listen' פָּעֳלוֹ /pɔʕɔ̆lo/ 'his work' but יַאְדִּיר /jaʔdið/ 'he will make glorious' רָחְבּוֹ /ʀɔħbo/ 'its breadth'.^{[49][nb 20][nb 21]}

The following charts summarize the most common reflexes of the Proto-Semitic vowels in the various stages of Hebrew:

1. Samaritan vowels may be lengthened in the presence of etymological guttural consonants. /ə/ results from both /i/ and /e/ in closed post-tonic syllables.
2. under the conditions of the law of attenuation
3. under the conditions of Phillipi's law
4. Samaritan /o u/ are nearly in complementary distribution (/o/ in open syllables, /u/ in closed syllables)
5. lengthening occurs in some open pretonic syllables and some stressed syllables; precise conditions depend on the vowel and on the tradition
6. reduction occurs in the open syllables two syllables away from the stress and sometimes also in pretonic and stressed open syllables
7. effectively in most closed syllables
8. more common before geminate consonants
9. Samaritan Hebrew has full vowels when the other traditions have reduced vowels, but these do not always correlate with their Proto-Hebrew ancestors

Stress

Proto-Hebrew generally had penultimate stress.^{[66] [nb 22]} The ultimate stress of later traditions of Hebrew usually resulted from the loss of final vowels in many words, preserving the location of proto-Semitic stress.^{[nb 23]} Tiberian Hebrew has phonemic stress, e.g. בָּנוּ֫ /bɔˈnu/ 'they built' vs. בָּ֫נוּ /ˈbɔnu/ 'in us'; stress is most commonly ultimate, less commonly penultimate, and antipenultimate stress exists marginally, e.g. הָאֹ֫הֱלָה /hɔˈʔohɛ̆lɔ/ 'into the tent'.^{[67][nb 24]} There does not seem to be evidence for stress in the Secunda varying from that of the Tiberian tradition.^[68] Despite sharing the loss of final vowels with Tiberian Hebrew, Samaritan Hebrew has generally not preserved Proto-Semitic stress, and has predominantly penultimate stress, with occasional ultimate stress.^[69] There is evidence that Qumran Hebrew had a similar stress pattern to Samaritan Hebrew.^[51]

Notes

1. ^ Or perhaps Hurrian, but this is unlikely See Dolgoposky (1999:72–3).
2. ^ According to the generally accepted view, it is unlikely begadkefat spirantization occurred before the merger of /χ, ʁ/ and /ħ, ʕ/, or else [x, χ] and [ɣ, ʁ] would have to be contrastive, which is cross-linguistically rare. However Blau argues that it is possible that lenited /k/ and /χ/ could coexist even if pronounced identically, since one would be recognized as an alternating allophone (as apparently is the case in Nestorian Syriac). See Blau (2010:56).
3. ^ The vowel before originally geminate /ʀ ʔ/ usually shows compensatory lengthening, e.g. הָאָב /hɔˈʔɔv/ 'the father' < /*haʔːab/; with /ʕ/ preceding /*i/ tends to remain short; with /h/ original /*a/ also remains short, and /ħ/ generally does not cause compensatory lengthening, e.g. יְרַחֵם 'he will have compassion'. See Blau (2010:81–83)
4. ^ ^{a b} In this respect the Palestinian tradition corresponds to the modern Sephardi pronunciation, and the Babylonian tradition to the modern Yemenite pronunciation.
5. ^ While the vowels /a e i ɔ o u/ certainly have phonemic status in the Tiberian tradition, /ɛ/ has phonemic value in final stressed position but in other positions it may reflect loss of the opposition /a : i/. See Blau (2010:111–112)
6. ^ In fact, its scope of application is different in Samaritan and Tiberian Hebrew (e.g. פה 'here' Tiberian /po/ vs. Samaritan /fa/), see Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:83–86). Even in Tiberian Hebrew doublets are found, e.g. /kʼanːo(ʔ?)/ = /kʼanːɔ(ʔ?)/ 'zealous'. See Steiner (1997:147)
7. ^ This relative chronology is established by forms like קָטְלוּ (Secunda: /qaːtʼəˈluː/), originating from */qaˈtʼaluː/. The first vowel */a/ first lengthened because it was in a pretonic syllable, yielding */qaːˈtʼaluː/. By a later development, stressed short vowels in an open syllables were reduced and lost the stress, yielding /qaːtʼəˈluː/. See Janssens (1982:56–57).
8. ^ Parallels to Aramaic syllable structure suggest pretonic lengthening may have occurred in the Second Temple period. See Blau (2010:128–129)
9. ^ Long /aː eː oː/ were written as ⟨α η ω⟩, while short /a e o/ were written ⟨α/ε ε ο⟩. This length distinction is also found in the LXX. See Blau (2010:110–111), Janssens (1982:54), and Dolgopolsky (1999:14)
10. ^ In the Secunda /*a *i *u/ are preserved as short in originally closed syllables and in the third syllable before the stress. See Janssens (1982:54, 58–59)
11. ^ The Secunda also has a few cases of pretonic gemination. See Janssens (1982:119).
12. ^ In fact, first all stressed vowels were lengthened in pause, see Janssens (1982:58–59). This can be seen by forms like Tiberian כַּף /kaf/ < */kaf/, pausal כָּף /kɔf/ < */kɔːf/ < */kaːf/ < */kaf/. The shift in Tiberian Hebrew of */aː/ > */ɔː/ occurred after this lengthening, but before the loss of phonemicity of length (since words like ירחם with allophonically long [aː] don't show this shift).
13. ^ This is attested to by the testimony of Rabbi Joseph Qimḥi (12th century) and by medieval Arabic transcriptions, see Janssens (1982:54–56). There is also possible evidence from the cantillation marks' behavior and Babylonian pataḥ, see Blau (2010:82).
14. ^ The Palestinian reflexes of Tiberian /ɔ/ (/a/ and /o/) thus reflect the qamatz gadol-qamatz qatan distinction.
15. ^ See אֳנִי /ɔ̆ni/ 'ships' אֲנִי /ăni/ 'I', חֳלִי /ħɔ̆li/ 'sickness' חֲלִי /ħăli/ 'ornament', עֲלִי /ʕăli/ 'ascend!' (Num 21:17) and בַּעֱלִי /baʕɛ̆li/ '(with the) pestle' (Prov 27:22). Blau (2010:117–118) /ɛ̆/ alternates with /ă/ frequently and rarely contrasts with it, e.g. אֱדוֹם /ʔɛ̆ðom/ 'Edom' versus אֲדֹמִי /ʔăðomi/ 'Edomite'. Blau (2010:117–118) /ɔ̆/ is clearly phonemic but bears minimal functional load. Sáenz-Badillos (1993:110) /ă/ is written both with mobile šwa <ְ> and hataf patah <ֲ>. Blau (2010:117)
16. ^ Note that this /a/ does not become /ɔ/ in pause, thus בת has a patah vowel in pause as well as in context. Eblaitica: essays on the Ebla archives and Eblaite language, Volume 1. Eisenbrauns. 1987. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-931464-34-8. 
17. ^ The only known case where Philippi's Law does not apply is in the word קן /qen/ < */qinn-u/ 'nest'. The shift */i/ > /a/ has been extended by analogy to similar forms, e.g. */ʃim-u/ > /ʃam/ 'name' (but */ʃim-u/ > /ʃem/ 'reputation'!). Ben-Ḥayyim (2000:76,79)
18. ^ Verbal forms such as יפקד = Samaritan /jifqɒd/ < */jafqud/ may be examples of Barth's law rather than attenuation.
19. ^ This is known as 'pataḥ furtivum', literally 'stolen pataḥ' and perhaps a mistranslation of Hebrew פתח גנובה 'pataḥ of the stolen [letter]', as if אֵ were being inserted. See Blau (2010:83)
20. ^ It is evident that this epenthesis must have been a late phenomenon, since a short vowel preceding a guttural is preserved even though it becomes in an open syllable, see Blau (2010:85).
21. ^ This is less common when the consonant following the guttural is a begadkefat letter, e.g. תֵּחְבֹּל /taħbol/ 'you take in pledge'. This suggests that begadkefat spirantization was no longer automatic by the time that this epenthesis occurred, see Blau (2010:79)
22. ^ For the purposes of vowel quality shifts, words in the construct state are treated as if the stress fell immediately on the first syllable following the word. See Janssens (1982:52)
23. ^ Additionally, short stressed vowels in open syllables were reduced and lost stress, leading to ultimate stress in forms like קטלו < */qaˈtʼaluː/. In Tiberian Hebrew some words have penultimate stress in pause (before a break in reading), but ultimate stress in context, such as שָמָ֫רָה and שָמְרָה 'she watched', because the penultimate vowel in the original form */ʃaˈmaru/ lengthened in pause, while in context it was not lengthened, and then lost the stress and was reduced due to this sound shift. See Blau (2010:146–148, 154)
24. ^ In fact, it is not clear that a reduced vowel should be considered as comprising a whole syllable. Note for example that the rule whereby a word's stress shifts to a preceding open syllable to avoid being adjacent to another stressed syllable skips over ultrashort vowels, e.g. עִם־יוֹ֫רְדֵי בוֹר /ʕim-ˈjoʀăðe voʀ/ 'with those who go down into the pit' מְטֹ֫עֲנֵי חָ֫רֶב /măˈtˁoʕăne ˈħɔʀɛv/ 'pierced with a sword'. See Blau (2010:143–144)

References

External links

• History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language, David Steinberg

Bibliography

• Ben-Ḥayyim, Ze'ev (2000). A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press. ISBN 1-57506-047-7. 
• Bergstrasser, Gotthelf; Daniels, Peter T. (1995). Introduction to the Semitic Languages: Text Specimens and Grammatical Sketches. München: Max Hueber Verlag München. pp. 50–75. ISBN 0-931464-10-2. 
• Blau, Joshua (2010). Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1-57506-129-5. 
• Dolgopolsky, Aron (1999). From Proto-Semitic to Hebrew. Milan: Centro Studi Camito-Semitici di Milano. 
• Janssens, Gerard (1982). "Studies in Hebrew historical linguistics based on Origen's Secunda". Orientalia Gandensia (Uitgeverij Peeters) 9. ISBN 2-8017-0189-0. 
• LaSor, William Sanford (1978). Handbook of Biblical Hebrew. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. ISBN 978-0-8028-0444-0. 
• Rendsburg, Gary A. (1997), "Ancient Hebrew Phonology", in Kaye, Alan, Phonologies of Asia and Africa, Eisenbrauns, pp. 65–83, ISBN 1-57506-019-1, http://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/component/docman/doc_view/93-ancient-hebrew-phonology 
• Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993). A History of the Hebrew Language. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55634-1. 
• Sperber, Alexander (1959). A Grammar of Masoretic Hebrew. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard. 
• Steiner, Richard C. (1997), "Ancient Hebrew", in Hetzron, Robert, The Semitic Languages, Routledge, pp. 145–173, ISBN 0-415-05767-1 
• Steinberg, David (2010). History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language "History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language". http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew2a.htm History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language. Retrieved June 15, 2011. 
• Yahalom, Joseph (1997). Palestinian Vocalised Piyyut Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. Cambridge University. ISBN 0-521-58399-3. 
• Yeivin, Israel (1980). Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah. Scholars Press. ISBN 0-89130-373-1.