Biblical Hebrew
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 06:28
NOTE: Because of the difficulty in finding a Hebrew keyboard that allows one to type Gimmel Dagesh, Daled Dagesh, and Dagesh Chazak I will be using a romanzation throughout.
Phonology:
Because the Biblical Hebrew's exact phonology has not been recorded, I am using a reconstruction based on the Tiberian pronunciation; I will finish this post with the reconstruction's differences between the Israeli Reading pronunciation and Ashkenazic Pronunciation.
Consonants:
/p~f b~v d~ð t~θ tˤ k~x g~ɣ q ʔ/ <p~p̠ b~b̠ d~d̠ t~t̠ t̟ k~k̠ g~g̠ q ʔ/
/m n/ <m n>
/s z t͡sˤ ś ʃ ħ ʕ h/ <s z s̟ ś š h̟ ʕ h>
/r/ <r>
/l/<l>
/j w/ <y w>
The phonetics of /ś/ are unknown. It may have been a different way of writing /s/- (as it is treated in all mordern reading pronounciations), or it may have been /ɬ/.
The medieval grammarians divided the consonants into five "POAs". Note that the coronals are split into two POAs:
Labial: <p b m w>
Lingual: <t d n l t̟>
Dental: <s z s̟ ś š r>
Palatal: <k g y q>
Guttural: <ʕ ħ ʕ h>
Vowels:
/i: i u: u e o ə ɛ ɔ a/ <iy i uw u ē ō ə e o a>
Phomological processes:
The fricative pronunciations of the non-emphatic plosives are used intervocally or after the silent schwa.
All non-guttural phonemes, aside from the non-emphatic plosives, can be geminated.
A non-word-final coda consonants are considered to have silient schwas. Because these schwas can pop up again in certain morphological processes, I will transcribe them as <ə̥>
Similarly <ʔ h> are considered to be semivowels, as one of the two is automatically written in the Hebrew alphabet to mark a word final open syllable that doesn't end in a high or high-mid vowel. All vowels that occur in such syllables are lengthened. <h ʔ> do not occur word-finally except in his capacity.
Israeli Reading Pronunciation:
<g d t> do not have their fricative pronunciations.
Emphatic consonants are depharyngialized.
<h̟> is pronounced /x/.
<ʕ>is pronounced as /ʔ/ syllable initially; and ∅ syllable finally.
<w> is pronounced /v/.
<ɔ> is fused with <a>.
Askenazic Pronunciation:
<g d > do not have their fricative pronunciations.
The fricative pronunciation of <t> is /s/.
Emphatic consonants are depharyngialized.
<h̟> is pronounced /x/.
<ʕ>is pronounced as /ʔ/ syllable initially; and ∅ syllable finally.
<w> is pronounced /v/.
Phonology:
Because the Biblical Hebrew's exact phonology has not been recorded, I am using a reconstruction based on the Tiberian pronunciation; I will finish this post with the reconstruction's differences between the Israeli Reading pronunciation and Ashkenazic Pronunciation.
Consonants:
/p~f b~v d~ð t~θ tˤ k~x g~ɣ q ʔ/ <p~p̠ b~b̠ d~d̠ t~t̠ t̟ k~k̠ g~g̠ q ʔ/
/m n/ <m n>
/s z t͡sˤ ś ʃ ħ ʕ h/ <s z s̟ ś š h̟ ʕ h>
/r/ <r>
/l/<l>
/j w/ <y w>
The phonetics of /ś/ are unknown. It may have been a different way of writing /s/- (as it is treated in all mordern reading pronounciations), or it may have been /ɬ/.
The medieval grammarians divided the consonants into five "POAs". Note that the coronals are split into two POAs:
Labial: <p b m w>
Lingual: <t d n l t̟>
Dental: <s z s̟ ś š r>
Palatal: <k g y q>
Guttural: <ʕ ħ ʕ h>
Vowels:
/i: i u: u e o ə ɛ ɔ a/ <iy i uw u ē ō ə e o a>
Phomological processes:
The fricative pronunciations of the non-emphatic plosives are used intervocally or after the silent schwa.
All non-guttural phonemes, aside from the non-emphatic plosives, can be geminated.
A non-word-final coda consonants are considered to have silient schwas. Because these schwas can pop up again in certain morphological processes, I will transcribe them as <ə̥>
Similarly <ʔ h> are considered to be semivowels, as one of the two is automatically written in the Hebrew alphabet to mark a word final open syllable that doesn't end in a high or high-mid vowel. All vowels that occur in such syllables are lengthened. <h ʔ> do not occur word-finally except in his capacity.
Israeli Reading Pronunciation:
<g d t> do not have their fricative pronunciations.
Emphatic consonants are depharyngialized.
<h̟> is pronounced /x/.
<ʕ>is pronounced as /ʔ/ syllable initially; and ∅ syllable finally.
<w> is pronounced /v/.
<ɔ> is fused with <a>.
Askenazic Pronunciation:
<g d > do not have their fricative pronunciations.
The fricative pronunciation of <t> is /s/.
Emphatic consonants are depharyngialized.
<h̟> is pronounced /x/.
<ʕ>is pronounced as /ʔ/ syllable initially; and ∅ syllable finally.
<w> is pronounced /v/.