Niqqud - Demonstration

Demonstration

This table uses the consonants ב, ח or ש, where appropriate, to demonstrate where the niqqud is placed in relation to the consonant it is pronounced after. Any other consonants shown are actually part of the vowel. Note that there is some variation among different traditions in exactly how some vowel points are pronounced. The table below shows how most Israelis would pronounce them, but the classic Ashkenazi pronunciation, for example, differs in several respects.

This demonstration is known to work in Internet Explorer and Mozilla browsers in at least some circumstances, but in most other Windows browsers the niqqud do not properly combine with the consonants. It works very well when "dir=rtl" is added in the HTML source. This is because, currently, the Windows text display engine does not combine the niqqud automatically. Except as noted, the vowel pointings should appear directly beneath the consonants and the accompanying "vowel letter" consonants for the mālê (long) forms appear after.
Note concerning IPA: the transcription symbols are linked to the articles about the sounds they represent. The diacritic ˘ (breve) indicates a short vowel; the triangular colon symbol ː indicates that the vowel is long.
Symbol Type Common name Alternate names Scientific name Hebrew IPA Transliteration Comments
בְ Israeli Sh'va sheva shva שְׁוָא or Ø ə, e, ’, or nothing

In modern Hebrew, shva represents either /e/ or Ø, regardless of its traditional classification as shva naḥ (שווא נח) or shva na (שווא נע), see the following table for examples:


קִמַּטְתְּ
הִתְמוֹטַטְתְּ 		קִפַּלְתְּ
הִתְקַפַּלְתְּ
שָׁדְדוּ
לְאַט 		שָׂרְדוּ
זְמַן
*All shvas in the words "קִמַּטְתְּ" and "הִתְמוֹטַטְתְּ", also those marked under the letter tet ("ט"), are shva naḥ.
Tiberian šəwâ שְׁוָא





חֱ Israeli Reduced segol hataf segol ẖataf seggol חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל e –
Tiberian ḥăṭep̄ səḡôl חֲטֶף סְגוֹל ĕ ‒
חֲ Israeli Reduced patach hataf patah ẖataf pataẖ חֲטַף פַּתַח a –
Tiberian ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ חֲטֶף פַּתַח ă –
חֳ Israeli Reduced kamatz hataf kamats ẖataf kamats חֲטַף קָמָץ o –
Tiberian ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ חֲטֶף קָמֶץ ŏ –
בִ Israeli Hiriq hiriq ẖirik חִירִיק i Usually promoted to Hiriq Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.
Tiberian ḥîreq חִירֶק or ) i or í –
בִי Israeli Hiriq malei hiriq yod ẖirik male חִירִיק מָלֵא i –
Tiberian ḥîreq mālê חִירֶק מָלֵא î –
בֵ Israeli Zeire tsere, tzeirei tsere צֵירֵי e –
Tiberian ṣērê צֵרֵי ē –
בֵי, בֵה, בֵא Israeli Zeire malei tsere yod, tzeirei yod tsere male צֵירֵי מָלֵא e More commonly ei (IPA ).
Tiberian ṣērê mālê צֵרֵי מָלֵא ê –
בֶ Israeli Segol segol seggol סֶגּוֹל e –
Tiberian səḡôl סְגוֹל or e or é –
בֶי, בֶה, בֶא Israeli Segol malei segol yod seggol male סֶגּוֹל מָלֵא e With succeeding yod, it is more commonly ei (IPA )
Tiberian səḡôl mālê סְגוֹל מָלֵא ệ –
בַ Israeli Patach patah pataẖ פַּתַח a A patach on a letters ח, ע, ה at the end of a word is sounded before the letter, and not behind. Thus, נֹחַ (Noah) is pronounced /ˈno.ax/. This only occurs at the ends of words and only with patach and ח, ע, and הּ (that is, ה with a dot (mappiq) in it). This is sometimes called a patach ganuv, or "stolen" patach (more formally, "furtive patach"), since the sound "steals" an imaginary epenthetic consonant to make the extra syllable.
Tiberian páṯaḥ פַּתַח or a or á –
בַה, בַא Israeli Patach malei patah yod pataẖ male פַּתַח מָלֵא a –
Tiberian páṯaḥ mālê פַּתַח מָלֵא ậ –
בָ Israeli Kamatz gadol kamats kamats gadol קָמַץ גָּדוֹל a –
Tiberian qāmeṣ gāḏôl קָמֶץ גָּדוֹל ā –
בָה, בָא Israeli Kamatz malei kamats he kamats male קָמַץ מָלֵא a comm
Tiberian qāmeṣ mālê קָמֶץ מָלֵא â –
בָ Israeli Kamatz katan kamats hatuf kamats katan קָמַץ קָטָן o Usually promoted to Holam Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. Also, not to be confused with Hataf Kamatz.
Tiberian qāmeṣ qāṭān קָמֶץ קָטָן –
בֹ Israeli Holam holam ẖolam חוֹלָם o Usually promoted to Holam Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. The holam is written above the consonant on the left corner, or slightly to the left of (i.e., after) it at the top.
Tiberian ḥōlem חֹלֶם ō comm
בוֹ, בֹה, בֹא Israeli Holam malei holam male ẖolam male חוֹלַם מָלֵא o The holam is written in the normal position relative to the main consonant (above and slightly to the left), which places it directly over the vav.
Tiberian ḥōlem mālê חֹלֶם מָלֵא ô –
בֻ Israeli Kubutz kubuts kubbuts קֻבּוּץ u Usually promoted to Shuruk in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.
Tiberian qibbûṣ קִבּוּץ or u or ú
בוּ, בוּה, בוּא Israeli Shuruk shuruk shuruk שׁוּרוּק u The shuruk is written after the consonant it applies to (the consonant after which the vowel /u/ is pronounced). The dot in the shuruk is identical to a dagesh, thus shuruq and vav with a dagesh are indistinguishable. (see below).
Tiberian šûreq שׁוּרֶק û –
בּ Israeli Dagesh dagesh dagesh דָּגֵשׁ varied varied Not a vowel, "dagesh" refers to two distinct grammatical entities:
  1. "dagesh kal", which designates the plosive (as opposed to fricative) variant of any of the letters בגדכפת (in earlier forms of Hebrew this distinction was allophonic; in Israeli Hebrew ג, ד and ת with or without dagesh kal are acoustically and phonologically indistinguishable, whereas plosive and fricative variants of ב, כ and פ are sometimes allophonic and sometimes distinct phonemes (e.g., אִפֵּר /iˈper/ applied make up vs. אִפֵר /iˈfer/ tipped ash),
  2. "dagesh hazak", which designates gemination (prolonged pronunciation) of consonants, but which, although represented in most cases when transliterated according to standards of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, is acoustically and phonologically non existent in Modern Hebrew (except occasionally in dramatic or comical recitations, in some loanwords—such as a few Arabic profanities—and pronunciations exaggerated for the sake of disambiguation).

For most letters the dagesh is written within the glyph, near the middle if possible, but the exact position varies from letter to letter (some letters do not have an open area in the middle, and in these cases it is written usually beside the letter, as with yod).

The guttural consonants (אהחע) and resh (ר) are not marked with a dagesh, although the letter he (ה) (and rarely א) may appear with a mappiq (which is written the same way as dagesh) at the end of a word to indicate that the letter does not signify a vowel but is consonantal.

To the resulting form, there can still be added a niqqud diacritic designating a vowel.
Tiberian dāḡēš דָּגֵשׁ
בֿ Israeli Rafe rafe רָפֵא Not used in Hebrew. Still occasionally seen in Yiddish (actually more often as the spelling becomes more standardized, embracing YIVO rules) to distinguish פּ /p/ from פֿ /f/ (note that this letter is always pronounced when in the final position, with the exception of loanwords—שׁוֹפּ—, foreign names—פִילִיפּ— and some slang—חָרַפּ). Some ancient manuscripts have a dagesh or a rafe on nearly every letter. It is also used to indicate that a letter like ה or א is silent. In the particularly strange case of the Ten Commandments, which have two different traditions for their Cantillations which many texts write together, there are cases of a single letter with both a dagesh and a rafe, if it is hard in one reading and soft in the other.
Tiberian Niqqud, but not a vowel. Used as an "anti-dagesh", to show that a בגדכפת letter is soft and not hard, or (sometimes) that a consonant is single and not double, or that a letter like ה or א is completely silent
שׁ Israeli Shin dot shin dot šin dot שִׁי"ן, שִׁי״ן יְמָנִית or יְמִינִית, "right Shin" š/sh Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of a letter before the shin with the shin dot). The dot for shin is written over the right (first) branch of the letter. It is usually transcribed "sh".
Tiberian
שׂ Israeli Sin dot sin dot śin dot שִׂי"ן, שִׁי״ן שְׂמָאלִית, "left Sin" ś/s Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of the sin with the sin dot). The dot for sin is written over the left (third) branch of the letter
Tiberian Some linguistic evidence indicates that it was originally IPA, though poetry and acrostics show that it has been pronounced /s/ since quite ancient times).

Read more about this topic:  Niqqud