Shva

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Shva
ְ
IPA Modern Hebrew: /e/ ([]), Ø
Biblical Hebrew: /a/
Transliteration e, ' (apostrophe), nothing
English example men, menorah
Example
The word shva in Hebrew. The first vowel (under Shin, marked with red) is itself a shva.
Other Niqqud
Shva ·
Sin/Shin Dot

Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, shĕwa (Hebrew: שְׁוָא) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots (ְ) beneath a letter. It indicates either the phoneme /ə/ (shva na', mobile shva) or the complete absence of a vowel (/Ø/) (shva naḥ, resting shva).

It is transliterated as ⟨e⟩, ⟨ĕ⟩, ⟨ə⟩, ' (apostrophe), or nothing. Note that use of ⟨ə⟩ for shva is questionable: transliterating Modern Hebrew shva naḥ with ⟨ə⟩ is misleading, since it is never actually pronounced [ə]the vowel [ə] does not exist in Modern Standard Hebrew. Moreover, the vowel [ə] is probably not characteristic of earlier pronunciations such as Tiberian vocalization.

A shva sign in combination with the

kamáts katán
produces a ẖatáf: a diacritic for a tnuʿá ẖatufá (a 'reduced vowel' – lit. 'abducted').

Pronunciation in Modern Hebrew

In Modern Hebrew, shva is either pronounced /e/ or is mute (Ø), regardless of its traditional classification as shva nach (שְׁוָא נָח) or shva na (שְׁוָא נָע), see following table for examples. The Israeli standard for its transliteration[1] 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:[2]

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 or consonants with identical place and manner of articulation: שָׁכְחוּ /ʃaχeˈχu/ they forgot מָכְרוּ /maχˈru/ they sold
שָׁדַדְתְּ /ʃaˈdadet/ you (f.) robbed שָׁלַלְתְּ /ʃaˈlalt/ you (feminine) negated
2. When under the first letter of a word, if this letter is a
ר (/r/)[*]
:
נְמָלִים /nemaˈlim/ ants גְּמָלִים /ɡmaˈlim/ camels
מְנִיָּה /meniˈja/ counting בְּנִיָּה /bniˈja/ building
3. When under the first letter of a word, if the second letter is a
ע
‎ (/ʕ/ or /ʔ/):
תְּאָרִים /teaˈrim/ titles מִתְאָרִים /mitʔaˈrim/ outlines
תְּמָרִים /tmaˈrim/
dates
4. When under the first letter of a word, if this letter represents one of the prefix-morphemes
  1. ב
    (/be/) = amongst others "in",
  2. ו
    (/ve/) = "and",
  3. כ
    (/ke/) = amongst others "as" or "approximately",
  4. dative marker and verb prefix in infinitive
    ,
  5. ת (/te/) as future tense
    verb prefix:
בְּרֵיחָהּ /berejˈχa/ in her scent בְּרֵיכָה /brejˈχa/ pool
בְּחִישָׁה /beχiˈʃa/ in sensing בְּחִישָׁה /bχiˈʃa/ stirring
וְרוֹדִים /veroˈdim/ and (they) tyrannize וְרוּדִים /vruˈdim/ pink (m.p.)
כְּרָזָה /keraˈza/ as a thin person כְּרָזָה /kraˈza/ poster
לְפָּרִיז /lepaˈriz/ to Paris
תְּבַלּוּ /tevaˈlu/ you (m. p.) will have a good time תְּבַלּוּל /tvaˈlul/ cataract
5. (In
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:
מִצְּעָדִים /mitseaˈdim/ from steps מִצְּמָדִים /mitsmaˈdim/ from pairs
מִצְעָדִים /mitsʔaˈdim/ parades
מִרְוָחִים /mirevaˈχim/ from blanks מִרְוָחִים /mirvaˈχim/ intervals
standard: מֵרְוָחִים/merevaˈχim/
לַאֲרָיוֹת וְלְנְמֵרִים יֵשׁ פַּרְוָה /learaˈjot velenemerim…/ Lions and tigers have fur
standard: וְלִנְמֵרִים /…velinmeˈrim…/
וְכְּיְלָדִים שִׂחַקְנוּ בַּחוּץ /vekejelaˈdim…/ And as children we played outside
standard: וְכִילָדִים/veχilaˈdim…/
6. (Usually – see #Counterexamples[**]) when under a medial letter, before whose pronunciation a consonant was pronounced: אִשְׁפְּזוּ /iʃpeˈzu/ they hospitalized אִישׁ פְּזוּר דַּעַת /iʃ pzur ˈda.at/ an absentminded man

Counterexamples

^ One exception to rule 2 seems to be מְלַאי /mlaj/ 'inventory' (although according to the New User-Friendly Hebrew-English Dictionary (Arie Comey, Naomi Tsur; Achiasaf, 2006), the word is instead pronounced /meˈlai/); the absence of a vowel after the מ‎ (/m/) might be attributable to the high sonority of the subsequent liquid ל‎ (/l/), compare with מְלִית (/meˈlit/, not /*mlit/) 'filling' (in cuisine).

^ Exceptions to rule 6 include פְּסַנְתְּרָן (/psantˈran/, not */psanteˈran/ – 'pianist'), אַנְגְּלִית (/aŋˈɡlit/, not */aŋɡeˈlit/ – 'English'), נַשְׁפְּרִיץ[3] (/naʃˈprit͡s/, not */naʃpeˈrit͡s/ – 'we will sprinkle'), several inflections of quinqueliteral roots – e.g.: סִנְכְּרֵן[4] (/sinˈkren/, not */sinkeˈren/ – 'he synchronized'); חִנְטְרֵשׁ[5] (/χinˈtreʃ/, not */χinteˈreʃ/ – 'he did stupid things'); הִתְפְלַרְטֵט[6] (/hitflarˈtet/, not */hitfelartet/ – 'he had a flirt') – as well as other, more recent loanwords, e.g. מַנְטְרַה (/ˈmantra/, not */mantera/ – 'mantra').

In earlier forms of Hebrew, shva na and nach were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable, but the two variants resulting from Modern Hebrew phonology no longer conform to the traditional classification, e.g. while the (first) shva nach in the phrase סִפְרֵי תורה ('books of the Law') is correctly pronounced in Modern Hebrew /sifrei torah/ with the פ‎ (or /f/ sound) being mute, the shva na in זְמַן ('time') in Modern Hebrew is often pronounced as a mute Shva (/zman/). In religious contexts, however, scrupulous readers of the prayers and scriptures do still differentiate properly between Shva Nach and Shva Na (e.g. zĕman).

Traditional classification

In traditional Hebrew grammar, a shva is categorized according to several attributes of its grammatical context. The three categories of shva relevant to standard grammar of Modern Hebrew are shva naʼ (שווא נע), shva naḥ (שווא נח) and the less common shva meraḥef (שווא מרחף). When discussing Tiberian pronunciation (ca. from the 8th until the 15th century) some shvas are classified as shva ga'ya (שווא געיה). The following table summarizes four distinguishing attributes which determine these categories:

To help illustrate the first criterion (existence or non-existence of a vowel in the word's non

phonemic transcription with an orange linguistic zero
: 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 inflected form of example standard syllabification attributes:
supersedes in non inflected form: preceding letter's niqqud: following letter with / without dagesh qal: assigned to syllable:
naʼ עֵרְבוֹנוֹת /erØvoˈnot/ (deposits) עֵרָבוֹן /eraˈvon/ (deposit) עֵ—רְבוֹ—נוֹת vowel long without following
naḥ עֶלְבּוֹנוֹת /elØboˈnot/ (insults) עֶלְבּוֹן /elØˈbon/ (insult) עֶלְ—בּוֹ—נוֹת no vowel short with preceding
meraḥef יֶאֶרְכוּ /je.erØˈχu/ (they will last) יֶאֱרַךְ /je.eˈraχ/ (it will last) יֶ—אֶרְ—כוּ vowel short without preceding

Shva Naʼ

In most cases, traditional Hebrew grammar considers shva naʼ, or the mobile shva, to be an entity that supersedes a vowel that exists in the basic form of a word but not after this word underwent inflection or declension. Additionally, any shva marked under an initial letter is classified shva naʼ.

Merely identifying a given shva as being a shva naʼ offers no indication as to its pronunciation in Modern Hebrew; it is however relevant to the application of standard

tsere and not segol etc.[↑]. Furthermore, in standard syllabification
, the letter under which a shva na is marked is grouped with the following syllable.

The Academy of the Hebrew Language's transliteration guidelines[1] specify that shva na should be transliterated only if pronounced in Modern Hebrew, in which case ⟨e⟩ be used for general purposes and ⟨ĕ⟩ for precise transliteration. Shva naʼ is sometimes transliterated ⟨ə⟩. Concerning Modern Hebrew pronunciation, however, this symbol is misleading, since it is commonly used in linguistics to denote the vowel schwa, which does not exist in Modern Hebrew.

A shva naʼ can be identified as such by means of the following criteria:

  1. when marked under the first letter of a word, as in מְרַחֵף, לְפָנָי, and שְׁמַע,
  2. when marked under the first of two identical letters,
  3. when it's the second of two shvas marked under two consecutive letters (except when marked under the last letter of a word), as in רַעְמְסֵס (Exo. 12:37) and וישְׁמְעו (Gen. 3:8),
  4. when the letter before the one under which it is marked is marked with a "long" niqqud-variant,[↑], such as the long vowel of either yod or ḥiríq, as in יְחִֽידְֿךָ (Gen. 22:2) (yəḥīḏəḵa), or the long vowel of waw or ḥolam, as in the words הוֹלְכִֿים, יוֹדְֿעִים and מוֹכְֿרִים (hōləḵīm, yōdəʻīm and mōḵərīm) and שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים (Deut. 16:18), "šōfəṭīm wa-šōṭərīm."
  5. when marked under a letter with a dagesh ḥazaq (historically an indicator of gemination), as מִפְּנֵיכֶם (Lev. 18:24) and מִקְּדָֿשׁ (Exo. 15:17).[7]: 31 

For a more detailed account, see Tiberian vocalization § Vowel diacritics

Shva Naḥ

Traditional Hebrew grammar defines shva naḥ, or shva quiescens, as indicating the absence of a vowel. In Modern Hebrew, some shvas classified as shva naḥ are nonetheless pronounced /e/ (e.g. the shva under the second dalet 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

tsere etc.[↑]. Furthermore, in standard syllabification
, the letter under which a shva naḥ is marked is grouped with the preceding syllable.

The Academy of the Hebrew Language's transliteration guidelines[1] specify that shva naḥ should not be represented in transliteration.

Shva Meraḥef

"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[↑]), 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 inflection or declension.

The classification of a shva as shva meraḥef is relevant to the application of standard niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a 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.[↑] This sometimes, but not always, reflects 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 kaf), whereas כַּלְבֵי ('dogs of'), whose standard pronunciation is /kalˈvej/, is commonly pronounced /kalˈbej/ (as if there were a dagesh qal in the letter bet). In standard syllabification, the letter under which a shva meraḥef is marked is grouped with the preceding syllable.

Shva Ga'ya

Sephardic
tradition, the pronunciation is ['vanā'šūḇā].

Shva ga'ya designates a shva marked under a letter that is also marked with the cantillation mark ga'ya (גַּעְיָה lit. 'bleating' or 'bellowing'),[7]: 22–23  or meteg, e.g. the shva under the letter bet in the word בְּהוֹנוֹת ('toes') would normally be classified a shva na’ and be transliterated ⟨e⟩: behonót (or according to the precise standard,[1] ⟨ĕ⟩: bĕhonót), however, if marked with the ga'ya cantillation mark, , this shva is classified as shva ga'ya, and the transliteration believed to reflect its historical pronunciation would be bohonót. This "strict application" is found in Yemenite Hebrew.

T'nua hatufa

Within niqqud, vowel diacritics are sorted into three groups: big, small and fleeting or furtive (t'nuot g'dolot תנועות גדולות, t'nuot k'tanot תנועות קטנות and t'nuot chatufot תנועות חטופות), sometimes also referred to as long, short and very short or ultrashort. This grouping might have correlated to different vowel lengths 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 chatufot ('fleeting') all share the common feature of being a

Kamatz Katan) plus a shva sign. Similarly, their names are derived from the respective small vowel diacritic's name plus the adjunct
chataf: chataf patach, chataf segol and chataf kamatz.

As with a shva na’, standard (prescribed) syllabification determines that letters pointed with a fleeting vowel diacritic be considered part of the subsequent syllable, even if in modern Hebrew pronunciation this diacritic represents a full-fledged syllable; thus e.g. the phonologically trisyllabic word הֶעֱמִיד ('he placed upright'), pronounced Hebrew pronunciation: [/he.eˈmid/], should standardly be syllabified into only two syllables, הֶ—עֱמִיד (he'emid).

Name Symbol
Israeli Hebrew
IPA
Transliteration English
approximate
Reduced Segol

(ẖatáf segól)
[] e men
Reduced Patach

("ẖatáf patáẖ")
[ä] a card
Reduced Kamatz

("ẖatáf kamáts")
[] o Sword
Reduced Hiriq
("ẖatáf ẖiríq") – not in current use, appears rarely[8] in the Aleppo Codex[9]
[i] i Ski

Comparison table

Vowel comparison table
Vowel Length[citation needed
]
(phonetically not manifested in Israeli Hebrew)
IPA
Transliteration English
approximate
Notes
Long Short Very Short phonemic phonetic
סָ סַ סֲ /a/ [ä] a spa see open central unrounded vowel
סֵ סֶ סֱ /e/ [] e temp see mid front unrounded vowel
סוֹ סָ סֳ /o/ [] o cork see mid back rounded vowel
סוּ סֻ n/a /u/ [u] u doom
סִי סִ /i/ [i] i ski
Note I: By adding two vertical dots (shva) ְ‎ 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

As of 2016, a separate Unicode symbol for the sheva na has been proposed but not implemented.[10]

See also

Notes

Long and short niqqud-variants represent identical spoken vowels in Modern Hebrew; the orthographic distinction is, however, still observed in standard spelling.

References

  1. ^ a b c d he-academy.huji.ac.il/hahlatot/TheTranscription/Documents/taatiq2007.pdf Transliteration guidelines from 2006 (p. 4)
  2. ^ "Characterization and Evaluation of Speech-Reading Support Systems for Hard-of-Hearing Students in the Class" by Becky Schocken; Faculty of Management, Tel-Aviv University, Department of Management and Economics, The Open University of Israel
  3. ^ "מילון מורפיקס – Morfix Dictionary - השפריץ". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  4. ^ "מילון מורפיקס – Morfix Dictionary - סנכרן". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  5. ^ "מילון מורפיקס – Morfix Dictionary - חנטרש". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  6. ^ "מילון מורפיקס – Morfix Dictionary - פלרטט". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  7. ^ a b Maḥberet Kitrei Ha-Torah (ed. Yoav Pinhas Halevi), chapter 5, Benei Barak 1990 (Hebrew)
  8. I Kings 17:11 "לקחי־נא"; Psalms 14:1 "השחיתו", "התעיבו"; Psalms 53:2
    "השחיתו", "והתעיבו"
  9. ^ hagigim.com
  10. ^ "ScriptSource - Entry - Unicode Status (Hebrew)".

Bibliography

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