Letters of the Alphabet

Letters of the Alphabet

Interactive Learning Module

The Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet

1. Introduction

  • This unit will introduce the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and explore some of their unique features.
  • We will attempt to discover answers to the following questions:
    • Though one might expect that every letter of the alphabet should represent a distinct and individual sound, this is not true of spoken Hebrew today. Which letters produce more than one sound and which have the same sound as another letter? Why is this?
    • The various letters of the alphabet are often grouped according to their place of articulation. Letters with similar sounds often behave alike and, according to some commentators, might at times even be interchangeable. How might this affect Biblical exegesis?
    • One of the better known groups of letters are the gutturals, those letters which are produced in the throat. What are some of the peculiarities of these letters?

2. The Letters of the Alphabet

  • Letters – The Hebrew alphabet contains 22 letters, with each symbol marking a consonantal sound. Vowels are represented by a distinct system of diacritic marks which are mostly placed underneath the letters. As such, the alphabet is more accurately an "abjad", a script whose letters represent only the consonantal sounds of a language and do not contain vowels.The term abjad derives from the traditional order of letters in the Arabic alphabet ('alif, bā', jīm, dāl).
  • Vowel Letters – There are, however, four letters (אהו"י), which can function as either a consonant or vowel marker. When functioning in the latter capacity, they are known as "אימות קריאה" (mothers of reading) as they facilitate the reading of the text. When a word is not otherwise marked with vowels, the presence of these letters helps disambiguate pronunciation, so that, for instance, "קִיר" (wall) will not be confused with "קַר" (cold). See more on these in the module on Vowels.
  • Case – Unlike English, Hebrew does not distinguish between upper and lower case letters.
  • Final letters – Five of the letters (כ,מ,נ,פ,צ) have a different form when they appear at the end of the word (ך,ם,ן, ף,ץ). These are referred to as "אותיות סופיות" (final letters), or by the acronym "מנצפ"ך". [For an explanation of why specifically these letters take two forms, see History of the Alphabet.]

3. Pronunciation

  • See the accompanying table which lists each letter and how it is generally pronounced in modern Israeli Hebrew.
    • As seen in the chart, in modern Israeli Hebrew, there are several letters whose sounds the majority of Hebrew speakers do not generally distinguish one from another. These include: א/ע (silent), ב/ו (a "v" sound), ח/כ (a "kh" sound) , ט/ת (a "t" sound), כּ/קּ (a "k" sound) and ש/ס (an "s" sound).This will be discussed more in the next slide.
    • Conversely, there are also several letters which can each represent two distinct sounds, distinguished only by certain diacritic marks. These include the letters ב,כ,פ and ש, and in some communities of Hebrew speakers also ג,ד and ת‎This will be discussed more in the coming slides.
    • Finally, there are certain sounds made by the Hebrew alphabet which have no exact equivalent in English (and vice versa). For example, both "ח" and "כ" do not have a counterpart, and are pronounced something like the Scottish “ch” in the word “loch” or like the “ch” in the German word “nacht”).

4. Identical Sounds

  • Why are there several letters which mark the same sound as other letters?
  • It is likely that originally every letter was pronounced with its own distinct sound, but with time, through the influence of surrounding cultures and due to the natural development of languages, certain sounds got lost as they morphed into others.The process was abetted by the fact that when the nation of Israel was driven into exile, Hebrew ceased to be a regularly spoken language and was relegated mainly to the realms of prayer and study. As such, over the generations, original pronunciations were lost and replaced by the closest approximations found in the sounds of the languages spoken by the Jews in their various countries of exile.
  • Aleph vs. Ayin – For example, many assume that while "א" was always a silent letter, the "ע" was originally pronounced deep in the throat. Evidence of this harsher sound is found in Greek transliterations of Hebrew words, which use the Greek "gamma" for "ע". This more guttural sound has made its way into some English translations as well. For instance, the Hebrew place names "עמורה" and "עזה" become Gemmora and Gaza.
  • Vet vs. Vav – Similarly, according to many scholars, "ו" was originally pronounced like a "w" and was thus distinct from the "v" sound made by the "ב"‎.As evidence of this original pronunciation, scholars point to the fact that "ו" was chosen to be used as an "אם קריאה" (a "vowel letter", used to mark the long u sound) which makes more sense if was a weak consonant, a semivowel, rather than if it was pronounced as a "v". This is how the letter is pronounced in Arabic, and many Jews from Arab speaking countries pronounce the "ו" in that manner until today.
  • Samech vs. Sin – Finally, it has been suggested that originally "שׂ" was not identical in sound to "ס" but was rather some combination of the "l" and "s" sounds.See R. Steiner, The Case for Fricative-laterals in Proto-Semitic, available here. Here, too, Greek transliterations (and later English borrowings) might preserve the ancient sound. Thus, the Hebrew "בשם" is balsamon in Greek and balsam in English, preserving an l-s sound. Similarly, the name "כשדים" is generally translated as Chaldeans, from the Greek Khaldaía (itself a variant of the Akkadian Kaldu); if the "ש" originally had an l-s sound, the relationship to the "l" in the other languages is much more understandable.

5. Polyphonic Letters

  • As mentioned, there are several letters which can represent two distinct sounds, distinguished only by certain diacritic marks.
  • Sin and shin – In Modern Hebrew, the symbol "ש" can represent either a "sh" or a "s" sound.
    • When appearing with a dot on the upper right corner (שׁ) it makes a "sh" sound and is referred to as a "shin". When it has a dot on the upper left corner (שׂ) it makes an "s" sound and is referred to as a "sin".
    • It is possible that the same character was used to represent the two distinct sounds because the Hebrew alphabet developed from the Phoenician scriptFor discussion, see see History of the Alphabet. whose language did not distinguish between the two, and thus did not have separate symbols. As even in Hebrew the sounds were somewhat similar, it was not deemed necessary to introduce a new character for the sound. The Hebrew alphabet thus maintained the 22 characters of the Phoenician script despite having an additional phoneme.See P. Jouon, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome, 1996): 28.
  • בגדכפ"ת – These six letters (known by the acronym "beged kefet") are also polyphonic. They may be either plosive consonants which make a hard sound, "exploding" out of the airway (as when pronouncing "b" or "p"), or their fricative counterparts, making a softer sound which is generated by audible friction (as when pronouncing "v" or "f").
    • The plosives (בּ, גּ, דּ, כּ, פּ, תּ) are distinguished by the presence of a dot in the letter, known as a dagesh.For further discussion on the various roles played by the dagesh see here. The fricatives are not marked (ב,ג,ד,כ,פ,ת).
    • In Modern Hebrew most Israelis do not maintain a distinction in sound in all six pairs, but only between בּ (b) and ב (v), כּ (k) and כ (kh), פּ (p) and פ (f).
    • Many Jews of Ashkenazic origin distinguish between "תּ" (t) and "ת" (s) as well, while many of Yemenite origin distinguish between the letters of all six pairs (though not necessarily preserving the exact distinctions of ancient Hebrew).
    • According to Yemenite pronunciation, a fricative "ת" sounds like the "th" in the word "thin" while a fricative "ד" sounds like the "th" in the word "that". They pronounce a "ג" as an Arabic "ghayn" (similar in sound to a guttural "r"), and the dotted "גּ" as a "j". However, as "j" is not a plosive sound this might be under the influence of Arabic rather than being a vestige of the ancient Hebrew pronunciation, where the dotted, plosive "ג" was perhaps pronounced like a hard "g".See P. Jouon, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome, 1996): 30.

6. Sound Groups

  • The various consonants are often categorized into groups based on their place of articulation:
    • consonants of the lip (labial) – בומ"פ
    • consonants of the tongue – דנטל"ת
    • consonants of the palate (palatal) – גיכ"ק
    • consonants of the throat (guttural) – אחע"ה
    • consonants of the teeth – זשסר"ץ
  • Some exegetes note that, due to the similarity in pronunciation, letters in each group might at times be exchanged one for another. See, for example, Rashi on Vayikra 19:16: "all letters whose pronunciation are of the same place in the organs of speech may interchange with each other e.g. bet with pey, gimel with khaf or kuf, nun with lamed, zayin with tzadi."
  • This can be helpful when trying to understand difficult or less common words, as sometimes exchanging a letter turns the word into a more familiar one.
    • For example, Bereshit 49:5 reads:"כְּלֵי חָמָס מְכֵרֹתֵיהֶם", with commentators debating the meaning of the word "מְכֵרֹתֵיהֶם". See Rashi's second opinion that the word is equivalent to "מגורותיהם" (their habitat) and Kitzur Paneach Raza who explains that this is so because the "ג" and "כ" can sometimes replace one another.

7. Advanced Exercises

  • The following exercises provide more examples of words which might be understood using the principle that letters who share a common point of articulation might at times be interchangeable.
  • Exercise #1 – Shemuel II 15:24.
    • Click on the word וַיַּצִּקוּ in the verse and check the concordance to see how it is normally used in Tanakh. How would you translate the word according to the first two entries? Could that definition apply here?
    • How does Malbim explain the word? What root does he connect it to?
    • Compare his reading with that of Rashi and Hoil Moshe. How do they understand the word using the rule that letters in the same sound group might be exchanged?
  • Exercise #2 – Yeshayahu 33:19.
    • Commentators question the meaning of the word "נוֹעָז" which appears only here. [Click on the word to see the concordance and that this is its only appearance.]
    • How do R. Eliezer of Beaugency and Radak define the word? To what root do they connect it?
    • How in contrast does Rashi understand the word? What allows him to equate the two words? [See also what he writes on Tehillim 114:1]
    • Though Ibn Ezra explains the word similarly to Rashi, how does he feel about Rashi's methodology? [See his comments to Bereshit 8:2 as well where he elaborates on which letters he thinks might legitimately be switched and which not.]

8. Gutturals

  • The four gutturals א ,ה, ח, ע along with the letter "ר" are often grouped together and collectively referred to as the "guttural letters" (אותיות גרוניות) or by the acronym "האח רע"‎.Though "ר" is not itself a guttural, it shares several features with those letters and thus is often categorized with them.
  • Due to the way these letters are pronounced, there are a number of spelling and vocalization peculiarities pertaining to them. We will briefly review several of these here, with each being elaborated upon in future modules.The following is mainly for reference and for more advanced students who are already familiar with some of the concepts mentioned. The beginning learner need not be concerned about the details at this point.
    • Dagesh – With a few exceptions,For discussion of the exceptions, see the Dagesh module. the gutturals do not take a dagesh (a dot in the letter which signifies that the value of the letter is doubled). Some of these letters (the ח and ע) are pronounced very deep in the throat making doubling difficult, while others (א and ה) are very weak consonants with not enough of a sound to be doubled. This inability to be doubled will often cause compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. For a comprehensive discussion see the module on the Dagesh.
    • Sheva – Excepting "ר", the gutturals do not take a sheva na (a vocal sheva, marked by two vertical dots under the letter).The letters can take a silent sheva. These letters do not make enough of a sound to support such a reduced vowel. Instead, they will usually take a chataf,The root "חטף" means "to snatch" and the sign is probably so called since it denotes a shortened, or "snatched" vowel. a composite sheva. This is a sheva combined with the hint of another vowel. For further discussion, see the section on the sheva in the Vowels module.
    • Patach – Some of the gutturals, specifically "ח" and "ע", prefer patachs.This, too, has to do with ease of pronunciation. Thus, for instance, when a certain noun pattern would normally call for letters to take a double segol (as in מֶלֶךְ or גֶּפֶן), when an "ע" or "ח" appears in the words, they will instead take a double patach (as in פַּחַד and נַעַר). Similarly, in many words that end in ,ע ,ח or consonantal הּ, these consonants are preceded by a פתח גנובה , a "furtive patach" (pronounced before that consonant, as in the word רוּחַ). For further discussion see the section on segolates in the Nouns module and the slide on furtive patachs in the Vowels model.
    • Conjugations – Finally, often, the presence of a guttural will weaken the root and affect verbal conjugations.

9. For Further Study