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The Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian pointing, or Tiberian niqqud () is a system of
Shva was used both to indicate lack of a vowel (''quiescent šwa'', ''shva naḥ'') and as another symbol to represent the phoneme (''mobile šwa'', ''shva naʻ''), the latter also represented by hataf patah. The phoneme had a number of allophones; had to be written with shva rather than hataf patah when it was not pronounced as . Before a laryngeal-pharyngeal, mobile šwa was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel ( ) and as preceding , ( ). Using ḥataf vowels was mandatory under gutturals but optional under other letters, and there was considerable variation among manuscripts.
That is referenced specifically by medieval grammarians:
The names of the vowel diacritics are iconic and show some variation:
The Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian pointing, or Tiberian niqqud () is a system of diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
s (''niqqud
In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud ( or ) is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Ea ...
'') devised by the Masoretes
The Masoretes (, lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe- scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in the Jewish centers of the Levant (e.g., Tiberias and Jerusalem) an ...
of Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
to add to the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
. The system soon became used to vocalize other Hebrew texts as well.
Tiberian vocalization marks vowels and stress, distinguishes consonant quality and length, and serves as punctuation. While the Tiberian system was devised for . '' Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
Tiberian Hebrew
Tiberian Hebrew is the canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible (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 Tib ...
, it has become the dominant system for vocalizing all forms of Hebrew. It has long since eclipsed the comparatively rudimentary Babylonian and Palestinian vocalization systems for writing Biblical Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...
.
Consonant diacritics
The sin dot distinguishes between the two values of . A '' dagesh'' indicates a consonant is geminate or unspirantized, and a ''raphe
Raphe ( ; from ;Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. : raphae or raphes) has several differe ...
'' indicates spirantization
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
. The ''mappiq
The mappiq ( ''mapík''; also ''mapiq'', ''mapik'', ''mappik'', lit. "causing to go out") is a diacritic used in the Hebrew alphabet. It is part of the Masoretes' system of niqqud (vowel points), and was added to Hebrew orthography at the same t ...
'' indicates that is consonantal, not silent, in syllable-coda position.
Vowel diacritics
The seven vowel qualities of Tiberian Hebrew are indicated straightforwardly by distinct diacritics: The diacritics qubutz and shuruq both represent , but shuruq is used when the text uses full spelling (with waw as amater lectionis
A ''mater lectionis'' ( , ; , ''matres lectionis'' ; original ) is any consonant letter that is used to indicate a vowel, primarily in the writing of Semitic languages such as Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac. The letters that do this in Hebrew are ...
). Each of the vowel phonemes could be allophonically lengthened; occasionally, the length is marked with metheg. Metheg also indirectly indicates when a following shva
Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, shĕwa () is a Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots () beneath a letter. It indicates either the phoneme (shva na', mobile shva) or the complete absence of a vowel (/Zero (linguist ...
is vocal.
The ultrashort vowels are slightly more complicated. There were two graphemes corresponding to the vowel , attested by alternations in manuscripts like .. In addition, one of the graphemes could also be silent:
Shva was used both to indicate lack of a vowel (''quiescent šwa'', ''shva naḥ'') and as another symbol to represent the phoneme (''mobile šwa'', ''shva naʻ''), the latter also represented by hataf patah. The phoneme had a number of allophones; had to be written with shva rather than hataf patah when it was not pronounced as . Before a laryngeal-pharyngeal, mobile šwa was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel ( ) and as preceding , ( ). Using ḥataf vowels was mandatory under gutturals but optional under other letters, and there was considerable variation among manuscripts.
That is referenced specifically by medieval grammarians:
The names of the vowel diacritics are iconic and show some variation:
Cantillation
Cantillation signs mark stress and punctuation. Metheg may mark secondary stress, and maqqaf (hyphen) conjoins words into one stress unit, which normally takes only one cantillation mark on the final word in the unit.See also
* Babylonian vocalization *Hebrew cantillation
Hebrew cantillation, trope, trop, or ''te'amim'' is the manner of chanting ritual readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue Jewish services, services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed ...
* Cardinal vowels
Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages. They are classified depending on the position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth, how far forward or back is the highest p ...
* Niqqud
In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikud ( or ) is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Ea ...
* Palestinian vocalization
* Tiberian Hebrew
Tiberian Hebrew is the canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible (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 Tib ...
References
Sources
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiberian Vocalization Language of the Hebrew Bible Hebrew alphabet