| Shva |
| ְ |
| IPA |
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
: /e/ (e̞), ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
|
| Biblical Hebrew: /ɛ̆/ – /ɐ̆/ – /ɔ̆/ – /ĭ/ |
| Transliteration Hebrew uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel points. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words....
|
e, ' (apostrophe The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
), nothing |
| English example |
men, menorah |
| Example |
 |
| The word shva in Hebrew Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. The first vowel (marked with red) is a shva itself. |
| Other Niqqud |
| ShvaHiriqZeireSegolPatachKamatzHolamDageshMappiqShurukKubutzRafeSin/Shin Dot |
Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, Sh'wa is a
HebrewThe Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
niqqud vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sign written as two vertical dots "ְ" underneath a letter. In
Modern HebrewModern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
, it indicates either the
phonemeIn a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
/e/ or the complete absence of a vowel (
ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
), whereas in Hebrew prescriptive linguistics, four grammatical entities are differentiated: resting (
/ ), moving (
na / ), floating (
/ ) and "bleating" or "bellowing" (
/ ). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable, but the two variants resulting from Modern Hebrew phonology no longer conform to the traditional classification, e.g. the (first) Shva Nach in the word (fem. "you crumpled") is pronounced in Modern Hebrew /e/ (/kiˈmatet/) instead of being mute, whereas the Shva Na in ("time") in Modern Hebrew is mute (/zman/). In religious contexts, however, careful readers of the prayers and scriptures do still differentiate properly between Shva Nach and Shva Na.
It is transliterated as "e", "", "", "
'" (
apostropheThe apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
), or nothing. Note that usage of "" for shva is questionable: transliterating modern Hebrew shva with or ' is misleading, since it is never actually pronounced [ə] –
the vowel [əIn linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
] does not exist in modern Hebrew – moreover, the vowel [ə] is probably not characteristic of earlier pronunciations either (see Tiberian vocalization → Mobile Shwa = Shwa na').
A shva sign in combination with the
vowel diacriticsHebrew orthography includes several types of diacritics:* a set of mostly optional ancillary glyphs known as niqqud in Hebrew, which are used either to represent vowels or to distinguish between alternate pronunciations of several letters of the Hebrew alphabet ;* geresh and gershayim, two...
{{otheruses|Shva (disambiguation)}}
{{See also|Schwa (disambiguation)}}
| Shva |
| ְ |
| IPA |
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
: /e/ (e̞), ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
|
| Biblical Hebrew: /ɛ̆/ – /ɐ̆/ – /ɔ̆/ – /ĭ/ |
| Transliteration Hebrew uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel points. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words....
|
e, ' (apostrophe The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
), nothing |
| English example |
men, menorah |
| Example |
|
| The word shva in Hebrew Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. The first vowel (marked with red) is a shva itself. |
| Other Niqqud |
| Shva{{·}}Hiriq{{·}}Zeire{{·}}Segol{{·}}Patach{{·}}Kamatz{{·}}Holam{{·}}Dagesh{{·}}Mappiq{{·}}Shuruk{{·}}Kubutz{{·}}Rafe{{·}}Sin/Shin Dot |
Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, Sh'wa ({{lang-he-n|
שְׁוָא}}) is a
HebrewThe Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
niqqud vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sign written as two vertical dots "ְ" underneath a letter. In
Modern HebrewModern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
, it indicates either the
phonemeIn a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
/e/ or the complete absence of a vowel (
ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
), whereas in Hebrew prescriptive linguistics, four grammatical entities are differentiated: resting (
{{Unicode|naḥ}} / {{Hebrew|
נָח}}), moving (
na / {{Hebrew|
נָע}}), floating (
{{Unicode|meraḥef}} / {{Hebrew|
מְרַחֵף}}) and "bleating" or "bellowing" (
{{Unicode|ga'ya}} / {{Hebrew|
גַּעְיָה}}). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable, but the two variants resulting from Modern Hebrew phonology no longer conform to the traditional classification, e.g. the (first) Shva Nach in the word {{Hebrew|
קִמַּטְתְּ}} (fem. "you crumpled") is pronounced in Modern Hebrew /e/ (/kiˈmatet/) instead of being mute, whereas the Shva Na in {{Hebrew|
זְמַן}} ("time") in Modern Hebrew is mute (/zman/). In religious contexts, however, careful readers of the prayers and scriptures do still differentiate properly between Shva Nach and Shva Na.
It is transliterated as "e", "{{Unicode|ĕ}}", "{{Unicode|ə}}", "
'" (
apostropheThe apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
), or nothing. Note that usage of "{{Unicode|ə}}" for shva is questionable: transliterating modern Hebrew shva with {{Unicode|ə}} or ' is misleading, since it is never actually pronounced [ə] –
the vowel [əIn linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
] does not exist in modern Hebrew – moreover, the vowel [ə] is probably not characteristic of earlier pronunciations either (see Tiberian vocalization → Mobile Shwa = Shwa na').
A shva sign in combination with the
vowel diacriticsHebrew orthography includes several types of diacritics:* a set of mostly optional ancillary glyphs known as niqqud in Hebrew, which are used either to represent vowels or to distinguish between alternate pronunciations of several letters of the Hebrew alphabet ;* geresh and gershayim, two...
{{otheruses|Shva (disambiguation)}}
{{See also|Schwa (disambiguation)}}
| Shva |
| ְ |
| IPA |
Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
: /e/ (e̞), ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
|
| Biblical Hebrew: /ɛ̆/ – /ɐ̆/ – /ɔ̆/ – /ĭ/ |
| Transliteration Hebrew uses the Hebrew alphabet with optional vowel points. The romanization of Hebrew is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Hebrew words....
|
e, ' (apostrophe The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
), nothing |
| English example |
men, menorah |
| Example |
|
| The word shva in Hebrew Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. The first vowel (marked with red) is a shva itself. |
| Other Niqqud |
| Shva{{·}}Hiriq{{·}}Zeire{{·}}Segol{{·}}Patach{{·}}Kamatz{{·}}Holam{{·}}Dagesh{{·}}Mappiq{{·}}Shuruk{{·}}Kubutz{{·}}Rafe{{·}}Sin/Shin Dot |
Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, Sh'wa ({{lang-he-n|
שְׁוָא}}) is a
HebrewThe Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
niqqud vowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
sign written as two vertical dots "ְ" underneath a letter. In
Modern HebrewModern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
, it indicates either the
phonemeIn a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
/e/ or the complete absence of a vowel (
ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
), whereas in Hebrew prescriptive linguistics, four grammatical entities are differentiated: resting (
{{Unicode|naḥ}} / {{Hebrew|
נָח}}), moving (
na / {{Hebrew|
נָע}}), floating (
{{Unicode|meraḥef}} / {{Hebrew|
מְרַחֵף}}) and "bleating" or "bellowing" (
{{Unicode|ga'ya}} / {{Hebrew|
גַּעְיָה}}). In earlier forms of Hebrew, these entities were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable, but the two variants resulting from Modern Hebrew phonology no longer conform to the traditional classification, e.g. the (first) Shva Nach in the word {{Hebrew|
קִמַּטְתְּ}} (fem. "you crumpled") is pronounced in Modern Hebrew /e/ (/kiˈmatet/) instead of being mute, whereas the Shva Na in {{Hebrew|
זְמַן}} ("time") in Modern Hebrew is mute (/zman/). In religious contexts, however, careful readers of the prayers and scriptures do still differentiate properly between Shva Nach and Shva Na.
It is transliterated as "e", "{{Unicode|ĕ}}", "{{Unicode|ə}}", "
'" (
apostropheThe apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
), or nothing. Note that usage of "{{Unicode|ə}}" for shva is questionable: transliterating modern Hebrew shva with {{Unicode|ə}} or ' is misleading, since it is never actually pronounced [ə] –
the vowel [əIn linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
] does not exist in modern Hebrew – moreover, the vowel [ə] is probably not characteristic of earlier pronunciations either (see Tiberian vocalization → Mobile Shwa = Shwa na').
A shva sign in combination with the
vowel diacriticsHebrew orthography includes several types of diacritics:* a set of mostly optional ancillary glyphs known as niqqud in Hebrew, which are used either to represent vowels or to distinguish between alternate pronunciations of several letters of the Hebrew alphabet ;* geresh and gershayim, two...
{{Unicode,
segól and kamáts katán produces a {{Unicode|"ẖatáf"}}: a diacritic for a {{Unicode|"tnuʿá ẖatufá"}} (a "fleeting" or "furtive" vowel).
Pronunciation in modern Hebrew
In
Modern HebrewModern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....
, shva is either pronounced /e/ or is mute (
ØA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
), regardless of its traditional classification as
{{Unicode|shva naḥ}} ({{Hebrew|שְׁוָא נָח}}) or
shva na ({{Hebrew|שְׁוָא נָע}}), see following table for examples. The Israeli standard for its transliteration is /e/ only for a pronounced shva na (i.e., one which is pronounced /e/) and no representation in transliteration if the shva is mute.
In Modern Hebrew, a shva is pronounced /e/ under the following conditions:
| Condition for /e/ pronunciation of shva in Israeli Hebrew |
Examples |
Examples for silent shva (since condition does not apply) |
| In Hebrew | IPA | translation | In Hebrew | IPA | translation |
|
| 1. When under the first of two letters, both representing the same consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
or consonants with identical placeIn articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
and manner of articulationIn linguistics, manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants, even though the movement of the articulars will also greatly alter the resonant properties of the...
: |
שָׁכְחוּ |
/ʃaχeˈχu/ |
they forgot |
מָכְרוּ |
/maχˈru/ |
they sold |
| שָׁדַדְתְּ |
/ʃaˈdadet/ |
you (f.) robbed |
שָׁלַלְתְּ |
/ʃaˈlalt/ |
you (feminine) negated |
|
}:
|נְמָלִים||/nemaˈlim/||
antAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s
|גְּמָלִים||/ɡmaˈlim/||
camelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s
|-
|מְנִיָּה||/meniˈja/||counting
|בְּנִיָּה||/bniˈja/||building
|-
|colspan=7 style="height:2px;overflow:hidden"|
|-
|rowspan=2 style="white-space:normal"|3. When under the first letter of a word, if the second letter is א (/ʔ/), ה (/h/) or ע (/ʕ/ or /ʔ/):
|rowspan=2|תְּאָרִים
|rowspan=2|/teaˈrim/
|rowspan=2|titles
|מִתְאָרִים||/mitʔaˈrim/||outlines
|-
|תְּמָרִים||/tmaˈrim/||dates
|-
|colspan=7 style="height:2px;overflow:hidden"|
|-
|rowspan=6 style="white-space:normal"|4. When under the first letter of a word, if this letter represents one of the
prefixA prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
-
morphemeIn linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s
- ב (/be/) = amongst others "in",
- ו (/ve/) = "and",
- כ (/ke/) = amongst others "as" or "approximately",
- ל (/le/) = amongst others "to", dative marker and verb prefix in infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
,
- ת (/te/) as future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
verb prefix:
|בְּרֵיחָהּ||/berejˈχa/||in her scent||בְּרֵיכָה||/brejˈχa/||pool
|-
|בְּחִישָׁה||/beχiˈʃa/||in sensing||בְּחִישָׁה||/bχiˈʃa/||stirring
|-
|וְרוֹדִים||/veroˈdim/||style="white-space:normal"|and (they) tyrannize||וְרוּדִים||/vruˈdim/||pink (m.p.)
|-
|כְּרָזָה||/keraˈza/||as a thin person||כְּרָזָה||/kraˈza/||poster
|-
|לְפָּרִיז||/lepaˈriz/||to Paris
|colspan=3|
|-
|תְּבַלּוּ||/tevaˈlu/||style="white-space:normal"|you (m. p.) will have a good time||תְּבַלּוּל||/tvaˈlul/||cataract
|-
|colspan=7 style="height:2px;overflow:hidden"|
|-
|rowspan=8 style="white-space:normal"|5. (In
non standardA standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
language usage) if one of the
morphemeIn linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s mentioned above (ב /be/, ו /ve/, כ /ke/, ל /le/ or ת /te/) or one of the morphemes מ /mi/ ("from") or ש /ʃe/ ("that") is added as a prefix to a word, which without this prefix begins with a letter marked with a shva pronounced /e/ under the above conditions, this shva will retain its /e/-pronunciation also with the prefix:
|rowspan=2 valign=top|מִצְּעָדִים
|rowspan=2 valign=top|/mitseaˈdim/
|rowspan=2 valign=top|from steps||מִצְּמָדִים||/mitsmaˈdim/||from pairs
|-
|מִצְעָדִים||/mitsʔaˈdim/||parades
|-
|מִרְוָחִים||/mirevaˈχim/||from
blanksIn writing, a space is a blank area devoid of content, serving to separate words, letters, numbers, and punctuation. Conventions for interword and intersentence spaces vary among languages, and in some cases the spacing rules are quite complex....
|rowspan=2 valign=top|מִרְוָחִים
|rowspan=2 valign=top|/mirvaˈχim/
|rowspan=2 valign=top|intervals
|-
|colspan=3|
standard: מֵרְוָחִים –/merevaˈχim/
|-
|לְאֲרָיוֹת וְלְנְמֵרִים יֵשׁ פַּרְוָה||/learaˈjot velenemerim…/||style="white-space:normal"|Lions and tigers have fur
|colspan=3|
|-
|colspan=3|
standard: וְלִנְמֵרִים /…velinmeˈrim…/
|colspan=3|
|-
|וְכְּיְלָדִים שִׂחַקְנוּ בַּחוּץ||/vekejelaˈdim…/||style="white-space:normal"|And as children we played outside
|colspan=3|
|-
|colspan=3|
standard: וְכִילָדִים – /veχilaˈdim…/
|colspan=3|
|-
|colspan=7 style="height:2px;overflow:hidden"|
|-
|style="white-space:normal"|6. (Usually – see
Counterexamples{{ref label|exception02|**|}}) when under a medial letter, before whose pronunciation a consonant was pronounced:
|valign=top|אִשְׁפְּזוּ
|valign=top|/iʃpeˈzu/
|valign=top|they hospitalized
|אִישׁ פְּזוּר דַּעַת||/iʃ pzur ˈda.at/||style="white-space:normal"|an absentminded man
|}
Counterexamples
- {{note|exception01}}One exception to rule 2 seems to be מְלַאי /mlaj/ "inventory"; the absence of a vowel after the מ (/m/) might be attributable to the high sonority
A sonority hierarchy or sonority scale is a ranking of speech sounds by amplitude. For example, if you say the vowel [a], you will produce a much louder sound than if you say the plosive [t]...
of the subsequent liquidIn phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...
ל (/l/), however compare with מְלִית (/meˈlit/, not /*mlit/) "filling (in cuisine)".
-
- {{note|exception02}} Exceptions to rule 6 include פְּסַנְתְּרָן (/psantˈran/, not */psanteˈran/ – "pianist"), אַנְגְּלִית (/aŋˈɡlit/, not */aŋɡeˈlit/ – "English"), נַשְׁפְּרִיץhttp://morfix.mako.co.il/default.aspx?q=%u05D4%u05E9%u05E4%u05E8%u05D9%u05E5 (/naʃˈprit͡s/, not */naʃpeˈrit͡s/ – "we will sprinkle"), several inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
s of quinqueliteral roots – e.g.: סִנְכְּרֵןhttp://morfix.mako.co.il/default.aspx?q=%u05E1%u05E0%u05DB%u05E8%u05DF (/sinˈkren/, not */sinkeˈren/ – "he synchronized"); חִנְטְרֵשׁhttp://morfix.mako.co.il/default.aspx?q=%u05D7%u05E0%u05D8%u05E8%u05E9 (/χinˈtreʃ/, not */χinteˈreʃ/ – "he did stupid things"); הִתְפְלַרְטֵטhttp://morfix.mako.co.il/default.aspx?q=%u05E4%u05B0%u05DC%u05B4%u05E8%u05B0%u05D8%u05B5%u05D8 (/hitflarˈtet/, not */hitfelartet/ – "he had a flirt") – and several loanwordA loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s, e.g. מַנְטְרַה (/ˈmantra/, not */mantera/ – "mantra").
Traditional classification
In traditional Hebrew grammar, shvas are in most cases classified as either "shva na" (Heb. שווא נע) or as {{Unicode|"shva naḥ"}} (Heb. שווא נח); in a few cases as {{Unicode|"shva meraḥef"}} (Heb. שווא מרחף), and when discussing Tiberian pronunciation (ca. from the 8th until the 15th century) some shvas are classified as "shva ga'ya" (Heb. שווא געיה).
A shva is categorized according to several attributes of its grammatical context. The three categories of shva relevant to
standardIn linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
grammar of Modern Hebrew are "shva na", {{Unicode|"shva naḥ"}} and {{Unicode|"shva meraḥef"}}; the following table summarizes four distinguishing attributes which determine these categories:
- Does the shva supersede a vowel or no vowel in the word's non inflected
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
form?
- Is the preceding letter pointed with a "short" or a "long" niqqud-variant?
- Is the following letter, when בג״ד כפ״ת
Begadkefat is the name given to a phenomenon of spirantization affecting most plosive consonants of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic when they are preceded by a vowel and not geminated...
, pointed with a dagesh qal or not?
- Is the letter which is pointed with shva assigned to the preceding or to the following syllable
Syllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
?
To help illustrate the first criterion (existence or non-existence of a vowel in the word's non
inflectedIn grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
form), the "location" of the shva, i.e., the place within the word where the lack of vowel is indicated by it, is marked within the phonemic transcription with an orange
linguistic zeroA zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
:
{{Unicode|Ø}}; if existing, the corresponding vowel in the basic (non inflected) form of the example is also marked in orange.
| type of shva |
|
example |
|
non inflectedIn grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
form of example |
|
standardIn linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
syllabificationSyllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
|
|
attributes: |
supersedes in non inflectedIn grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
form: |
preceding letter's niqqud: |
following letter with / without dagesh qal: |
assigned to syllable Syllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
: |
| na |
עֵרְבוֹנוֹת |
/er{{Unicode|Ø}}voˈnot/ |
(deposits) |
עֵרָבוֹן |
/eraˈvon/ |
(deposit) |
עֵ—רְבוֹ—נוֹת |
vowel |
long |
without |
following |
| {{Unicode|naḥ}} |
עֶלְבּוֹנוֹת |
/el{{Unicode|Ø}}boˈnot/ |
(insults) |
עֶלְבּוֹן |
/el{{Unicode|Ø}}ˈbon/ |
(insult) |
עֶלְ—בּוֹ—נוֹת |
no vowel |
short |
with |
preceding |
| {{Unicode|meraḥef}} |
יֶאֶרְכוּ |
/je.er{{Unicode|Ø}}ˈχu/ |
(they will last) |
יֶאֱרַךְ |
/je.eˈraχ/ |
(it will last) |
יֶ—אֶרְ—כוּ |
vowel |
short |
without |
preceding |
Shva Na
In most cases, traditional Hebrew grammar considers shva na to be an entity that supersedes a vowel that exists in the basic form of a word but not after this word underwent
inflectionIn grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
or
declensionIn linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
. Additionally, any shva marked under an initial letter is classified shva na.
Merely identifying a given shva as being a "shva na" offers no indication as to its pronunciation in Modern Hebrew; it is however relevant to the application of standard
niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a shva na may not be marked with a dagesh qal (Modern Hebrew
phonologyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
sometimes disagrees with this
linguistic prescriptionIn linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
, as in זִפְּזְפּוּ – "they zapped" – in which the second
pePe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Pei and Persian, Arabic ....
is pointed with a dagesh qal although preceded by a shva na), or: the vowel preceding a letter marked with a shva na must be represented by the "long" niqqud-variant for that vowel:
qamats and not {{Unicode, tsere and not
segol etc.{{ref label|long-short-variants|↑|}}. Furthermore, in standard
syllabificationSyllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
, the letter under which a shva na is marked is grouped with the following syllable.
The
Academy of the Hebrew LanguageThe Academy of the Hebrew Language was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language."-History:...
's transliteration guidelines specify that shva na should be transliterated only if pronounced in Modern Hebrew, in which case "e" be used for general purposes and {{Unicode|"ĕ"}} for precise transliteration. Generally, shva na is sometimes transliterated {{Unicode|"ə"}}. Concerning Modern Hebrew pronunciation, however, this symbol is misleading, since it is commonly used in linguistics to denote the vowel
SchwaIn linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
, which does not exist in Modern Hebrew.
A shva na can be identified as such by means of the following criteria:
- when marked under the first letter of a word,
- when marked under the first of two identical letters,
- when it's the second of two shvas marked under two consecutive letters (except when marked under the last letter of a word),
- when the letter before the one under which it is marked is marked with a "long" niqqud-variant,{{ref label|long-short-variants|↑|}}
- when marked under a letter with a {{Unicode (historically an indicator of gemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
).
For a more detailed account, see Tiberian vocalization → Vowels.
{{Unicode|Shva Naḥ}}
Traditional Hebrew grammar defines {{Unicode|shva naḥ}} as indicating the absence of a vowel. In Modern Hebrew, some shvas classified as {{Unicode|shva naḥ}} are nonetheless pronounced /e/ (e.g. the shva under the second
daletDalet is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic...
in the word שָׁדַדְתְּ – /ʃaˈdadet/ – "you (f.) robbed"; see table above).
In all but a small number of cases, a shva not conforming to the criteria listed above is classified {{Unicode|shva naḥ}}. This offers no conclusive indication as to its pronunciation in Modern Hebrew; it is however relevant to the application of standard
niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a {{Unicode|shva naḥ}} must be marked with a dagesh qal (Modern Hebrew
phonologyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
sometimes disagrees with this
linguistic prescriptionIn linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
, as in לְפַסְפֵס – "to miss" – in which the second
pePe is the seventeenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Pei and Persian, Arabic ....
lacks a dagesh qal although preceded by a {{Unicode|shva naḥ}}), or: the vowel preceding a letter marked with a {{Unicode|shva naḥ}} must be represented by the "short" niqqud-variant for that vowel: {{Unicode
qamats,
segol and not tsere etc.{{ref label|long-short-variants|↑|}}. Furthermore, in standard
syllabificationSyllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
, the letter under which a {{Unicode|shva naḥ}} is marked is grouped with the preceding syllable.
The
Academy of the Hebrew LanguageThe Academy of the Hebrew Language was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language."-History:...
's transliteration guidelines specify that {{Unicode|shva naḥ}} should not be represented in transliteration.
{{Unicode|Shva Meraḥef}}
{{Unicode|"Shva meraḥef"}} is the grammatical designation of a shva which does not comply with all criteria characterizing a shva na (specifically, one marked under a letter following a letter marked with a "short", not a "long", niqqud-variant{{ref label|long-short-variants|↑|}}), but which does, like a shva na, supersede a vowel (or a shva na) that exists in the basic form of a word but not after this word underwent
inflectionIn grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
or
declensionIn linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
.
The classification of a shva as {{Unicode|"shva meraḥef"}} is relevant to the application of standard
niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a {{Unicode|shva meraḥef}} should not be marked with a dagesh qal, although the vowel preceding this letter could be represented by the "short" niqqud-variant for that vowel.{{ref label|long-short-variants|↑|}} This reflects sometimes, but not always, pronunciation in Modern Hebrew, e.g. מַלְכֵי ("kings of") is commonly pronounced in accordance with the standard form, /malˈχej/ (with no dagesh qal in the letter
kafKaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet...
), whereas כַּלְבֵי ("dogs of"), whose standard pronunciation is /kalˈvej/, is commonly pronounced /kalˈbej/ (as if there were a dagesh qal in the letter
betBet, Beth, Beh, or Vet is the second letter of many Semitic abjads, including Arabic alphabet , Aramaic, Hebrew , Phoenician and Syriac...
). In standard
syllabificationSyllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
, the letter under which a {{Unicode|shva meraḥef}} is marked is grouped with the preceding syllable.
Shva Ga'ya
"Shva Ga'ya" designates a shva marked under a letter that is also marked with the
cantillationCantillation is the ritual chanting of readings from the Hebrew Bible in synagogue services. The chants are written and notated in accordance with the special signs or marks printed in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to complement the letters and vowel points...
mark "ga'ya", or "meteg", e.g. the shva under the letter
betBet, Beth, Beh, or Vet is the second letter of many Semitic abjads, including Arabic alphabet , Aramaic, Hebrew , Phoenician and Syriac...
in the word בְּהוֹנוֹת ("toes") would normally be classified a shva na and be transliterated "e": "behonót" (or according to the precise standard, {{Unicode|"ĕ"}}: {{Unicode|"bĕhonót"}}), however, if marked with the ga'ya cantillation mark,
, this shva is classified as shva ga'ya, and the transliteration reflecting its historical pronunciation would be "bohonót".
{{Unicode|Tnuʿá ẖatufá}} ("fleeting" or "furtive" vowel)
Within
niqqud, vowel
diacriticsHebrew orthography includes several types of diacritics:* a set of mostly optional ancillary glyphs known as niqqud in Hebrew, which are used either to represent vowels or to distinguish between alternate pronunciations of several letters of the Hebrew alphabet ;* geresh and gershayim, two...
are sorted into three groups: "big", "small" and "fleeting" or "furtive" ("{{Unicode|tnuʿót gdolót}}" – "גדולות", "{{Unicode|tnuʿót ktanót}}" – "קטנות" and "{{Unicode|tnuʿót ẖatufót}}" "חטופות"), sometimes also referred to as "long", "short" and "very short" or "ultrashort". This grouping might have correlated to different
vowel lengthIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
s in earlier forms of Hebrew (see Tiberian vocalization → Vowels; spoken Israeli Hebrew however does not distinguish between different vowel lengths, thus this orthographic differentiation is not manifest in speech).
The vowel diacritics classified as "{{Unicode|ẖatufót}}" ("fleeting") all share the common feature of being a
digraphA digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined...
of a "small vowel" diacritic ({{Unicode,
segól or kamáts katán) plus a shva sign. Similarly, their names are derived from the respective "small vowel" diacritic's name plus the
adjunctIn grammar, a noun adjunct or attributive noun or noun premodifier is a noun that modifies another noun and is optional — meaning that it can be removed without changing the grammar of the sentence; it is a noun functioning as an adjective. For example, in the phrase "chicken soup" the noun adjunct...
{{Unicode|"ẖatáf": "ẖatáf patáẖ", "ẖatáf segól" and "ẖatáf kamáts".}}
As with a shva na, standard (
prescribedIn linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
)
syllabificationSyllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
determines that letters
pointed with a "fleeting vowel" diacritic be considered part of the subsequent
syllableA syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
, even if in modern Hebrew pronunciation this diacritic represents a full-fledged syllable, thus e.g. the
phonologicallyPhonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
trisyllabic word "הֶעֱמִיד" ("he placed upright"), pronounced /he.eˈmid/, should
standardlyA standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
be syllabified into only two syllables, "הֶ—עֱמִיד" ("{{Unicode|he—ĕmíd}}").
| | Name |
| | Symbol |
| |Israeli Hebrew |
| | IPA |
| | Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
|
| | English
approximate |
Reduced Segol
{{Unicode|("ẖatáf segól")}} |
 |
e̞ |
e |
men |
Reduced Patach
{{Unicode|("ẖatáf patáẖ")}} |
 |
ä |
a |
cup |
Reduced Kamatz
{{Unicode|("ẖatáf kamáts")}} |
 |
o̞ |
o |
dork |
Reduced Hiriq
{{Unicode|("ẖatáf ẖiríq")}} – not in current use, appears rarely in the Aleppo CodexThe Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
|
 |
i |
i |
it |
Comparison table
| | Vowel comparison table |
| Vowel Length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew) |
IPA |
Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
|
English
approximate |
Notes |
| Long |
Short |
Very Short |
phonemic |
phonetic |
| {{Hebrew|סָ}} |
{{Hebrew|סַ}} |
{{Hebrew|סֲ}} |
/a/ |
ä |
a |
spa |
see open central unrounded vowel The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front and back...
|
| {{Hebrew|סֵ}} |
{{Hebrew|סֶ}} |
{{Hebrew|סֱ}} |
/e/ |
e̞ |
e |
temp |
see mid front unrounded vowel Mid front unrounded vowel might refer to:*The exact mid front unrounded vowel , between and *The close-mid front unrounded vowel *The open-mid front unrounded vowel...
|
| {{Hebrew|סוֹ}} |
{{Hebrew|סָ}} |
{{Hebrew|סֳ}} |
/o/ |
o̞ |
o |
cone |
see mid back rounded vowel Mid back rounded vowel might refer to:*The exact mid back rounded vowel , between and *The close-mid back rounded vowel *The open-mid back rounded vowel...
|
| {{Hebrew|סוּ}} |
{{Hebrew|סֻ}} |
n/a |
/u/ |
u |
u |
doom |
|
| {{Hebrew|סִי}} |
{{Hebrew|סִ}} |
/i/ |
i |
i |
ski |
|
| | Note I: |
By adding two vertical dots (shva) {{Hebrew|1=ְ}} the vowel is made very short. |
| | Note II: |
The short o and long a have the same niqqud. |
| | Note III: |
The short o is usually promoted to a long o in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
| | Note IV: |
The short u is usually promoted to a long u in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation |
Unicode encoding
| Glyph |
Unicode |
Name |
| ְ |
U+05B0 |
HEBREW POINT SHEVA |
| ֱ |
U+05B1 |
HEBREW POINT HATAF SEGOL |
| ֲ |
U+05B2 |
HEBREW POINT HATAF PATAH |
| ֳ |
U+05B3 |
HEBREW POINT HATAF QAMATS |