Samaritan Hebrew
Samaritan Hebrew | |
---|---|
Template:Hebrew ‘Ivrit | |
Pronunciation | [ʔiwˈʁiθ] |
Region | Israel and Palestinian Authority territories, predominantly in Samaria and Holon. |
Native speakers | fewer than 1,000; liturgical only |
Samaritan abjad | |
Official status | |
Official language in | none |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | heb |
The Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans. It is used in the reading tradition of the Samaritan Pentateuch.
Writing
It is written in the Samaritan alphabet, a direct descendant of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (itself a variation of what phoenicians used as an alphabet, see, the Phoenician alphabet), whereas all other varieties of Hebrew are written in the later Hebrew alphabet, a variation on the Aramaic alphabet.
Pronunciation
The Samaritan pronunciation of Hebrew differs in several respects from most others. The laryngeals He and Cheth have disappeared or turned into vowels. Behth and Waw both are pronounced as b (in fact, the letters' names are pronounced Bîhth and Baa), only the waw-conjunctive is pronounced as u. There is no double pronunciation of the Shin like Jewish Hebrew; it is always pronounced sh. Consonants with dagesh are pronounced geminate. Stress is commonly penultimate rather than ultimate.
Phonology
Name
- ’Ā´lāph. ' /ʔ/
- Bîhth. /b/
- Gā´mān. /ɡ/
- Dā´lath. /d/
- Iē’. /ey/,
- Báā. /b/
- Zēn. /z/
- Īhth.
- Tihth. /tˁ/
- Yūhth. /y/
- Káph. /k/ - [x] allophonically
- Lā´bāth. /l/
- Mīīm. /m/
- Nūn. /n/
- Sîn´gath/Sîn´kath. /s/
- ‛A´yîn. /ʕ/
- Phī’. /f/
- Tsa•dhey´. /tzsˁ/ /tş/
- Qūhph. /qˁ/
- Rīhšh. /ɾ/
- šhān. /š/ (sh)
- Táph./t/
Name | Letter | Phoneme and Allophone (IPA) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'’ālāph' | א | /ʔ/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'bîhṯh' | ב | /b/ - v allophonically1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gā´mān | ג | /ɡ/ - ɣ allophonically1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dā´lath | ד | /d/ - ð allophonically1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iē | ה | /h/, null at the end of words.2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
bā | ו | /w/, null after /o/ or /u/ 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
zen | ז | /δ/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'ihēṯ' | ח | /ħ/, (/χ/3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'ṭiṯ' | ט | /tˁ/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'Yūhth' | י | /j/, null after /ɛ/, /e/, or /i/2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'káph' | כ, ך | /k/ - x allophonically1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'Lā´bāth.' | ל | /l/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
mīm | מ, ם | /m/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nūn | נ, ן | /n/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
'Sîn´gath/Sîn´kath.' | ס | /s/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
‛A´yîn | ע | /ʕ/, (/ɣ/3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
phī’' | פ, ף | /p/ - f allophonically1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tsa•dhey´ | צ, ץ | /sˁ/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Qūhph. | ק | /kˁ/ (or /q/) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rīhšh. | ר | /ɾ/ (trilled like in Arabic) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
śhan/ | ש | /ɬ/, s, /ʃ/ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
tāph | ת | /t/ - θ allophonically1
GrammarParts of speechPronounsPersonal
DemonstrativeThis: masc. ze, fem. zéot, pl. ílla. That: alaz (written with a he at the beginning). RelativeWho, which: éšar. InterrogativeWho? = mi. What? = ma. NounWhen suffixes are added, ê and ô in the last syllable may become î and û: bôr (Judean bohr) "pit" > búrôt "pits". Note also af "anger" > éppa "her anger". Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: beţen "stomach" > báţnek "your stomach", ke′seph "silver" > ke′sefánu (Judean Hebrew kaspe′nu) "our silver", dérek > dirkakimma "your (m. pl.) road" but áreş (in Judean Hebrew: ’e′rets) "earth" > árşak (Judean Hebrew ’arts-ekha) "your earth". ArticleThe definite article is a- or e-, and causes gemination of the following consonant, unless it is a guttural; it is written with a he, but as usual, the h is silent. Thus, for example: énnar / ánnar = "the youth"; ellêm = "the meat"; a'émur = "the donkey". NumberRegular plural suffixes are -êm, Judean Hebrew -im) masc., -ôt (Judean Hebrew: -oth.) fem: eyyamêm "the days", elamôt "dreams". Dual is sometimes -ayem (Judean Hebrew: a′yim) (šenatayem "two years"), usually -êm like the plural (yédêm "hands", Judean Hebrew yadhayim.) Tradition of Divine nameSamaritans have the tradition of either spelling out loud with the Samaritan letters "Yohth, Ie', Baa, Ie’ " or saying "Shema" meaning "(The Divine) Name" in Aramaic, similar to Judean Hebrew "Ha-Shem" . VerbsAffixes are:
ParticlesPrepositions"in, using", pronounced:
"as, like", pronounced:
"to" pronounced:
"and" pronounced:
Other prepositions:
Conjunctions
Adverbs
Bibliography
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