The Hebrew Syllable (הֲבָרָב)

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The Hebrew Syllable (הֲבָרָב)

The Hebrew Syllable (הֲבָרָב)

Formation of a syllable

¶ Words in the Hebrew language are very fundamental: a word may come in one syllable or two syllables at the root level; most of them are in two syllables: nouns and verbs alike. There are some Hebrewwords come in three syllables; words that are given in one syllable are known as monosyllable words.

¶ A syllable (הֲבָרָב) is a pairing of one consonant (C) and a vowel (V) composed into a unit of sound, something like CV combination, which is known as a simple syllable orהֲבָרָב פְּשׁוּטָה, example: מִיwho, בָּאhe entered into.

¶ A syllable always begins with a consonant, except when a word begins with [ו] (וָו), which served the role of a conjunction. A syllable may begin with two consonants, but never more than that.

¶ A syllable may end in either a consonant or another vowel; a sole vowel could not be used as a syllable. The number of vowels in a word determines the number of syllables.

¶ A syllable ending in a vowel, or any one of these consonants א, ה, ו, י(אהוי) forming part of a long vowel, usually a CV formation, is deemed an open syllable, example: לְךָ.

¶ One syllable alone, either simple or mixed,is sufficient to make up a word in Hebrew, like סוּסhorse,בָּאto enter; but words are made up of more than one syllables in order to create effective meaning.

¶ A syllable consists of two consonants and embedding or sandwiching a vowel, usually termed as the stem vowel, is a composite or mixed syllable, known in Hebrew asמֻרְכֶּבֶתהֲבָרָה. It makes the word to look something like CVC, example: גָןgarden,עֵץtree. Without vowel (nikkudim), the syllable looks like CC. This is termed a closed syllable.

¶ A two-syllable word has two parts: a head and a stem. The head is usually a simple, open, unaccented syllable; the stem is a mixed, closed, accented but unmarked syllable, example: דָבָרword, saying.

¶ In a two-syllable word, usually headed by a simple syllable and followed by a mixed syllable which rides at the pillion, like the word דָּבָר(CVCVC), when there is no vowels (nikkudim), the word looks something like this: CCC,דבר. This is what was originally used in the language and the Tanakh (תַּנַ"ך). The vowel points (נִקוּדִים) came much later in the long history of the Hebrew language, sometime in the second half of the first century of the Christian era.

¶Beware that in a two-syllable word, the pillion, mixed syllable, which has two consonants, will be divided up while the stem vowel will be shorten to [ְ] (שואנע) when adding personal pronoun affixes to the verb during conjugation. The hind consonant will be joint to the vowel of the vocalic sufformatives to form a new syllable which receives the accent, for example: כָּתְבוּthey wrote. This maneuver is applicable only to vocalic sufformatives.

¶ The number of syllable in a word is counted by the number of vowels it contained.

¶ Not counted as syllable would be a deuce of a consonant and a shewa: vocal and composite shewa included, for [ְ] (שְׁוָא) is not a full vowel. Hence the word אֲנִיI is counted to consists one syllable. By the same token, פַּ֑תַּחגְּנוּבָה(pathach furtive) could not be taken as a syllable: it belongs to the preceding vowel, example:ר֑וּחַwind.

¶ Syllable closingin a consonant cannot have a vowel underneath it, except for שְׁוָאנָח which marksa terminating consonant.When a consonant at the end of a syllable is silent, it loses the שוא. Syllables ending with two consonants come under this category, example: כָּתַבְתְּyou (f) wrote.

¶ Only in words ending with the consonant [ך] (כַּף סוֹפִית)would it carry a שואנח.

¶ A simple syllable ends in a vowel (CV), therefore is known as an open syllable, and thefollowing syllable must not be onethat begins with a doubled consonant (דָּגֵשחֲזַק), in which case, it virtually closedthe same preceding syllable. Unaccented open syllable always requires a long vowel: long vowelnever to be closed by a consonant.

¶ A composite or mixed syllable (CVC) ending in a consonant, thus is known as closed syllable. A mixed, closed syllable, if unaccented, always requires a short vowel.When the accent falls on the mixed, closed syllable, it requires a long vowel, and usually remained unmarked, example: עָפָרdust, dirt.

¶ The same consonant may close a syllable and, at the same time, open the next syllable. In such cases a dot known as דָּגֶש חָזַק is placed in the middle of the same consonant.

¶ Guttural consonants do not normally close a syllable, especially when it is present in the middle of word.

¶A mixed, closed syllable ends in a consonant;buta word that ends in either in ה (הֵא)or א (אָלֶף) isdeemed an open syllable, for example:בָּנָה, he built. Syllables contained the diphthong (ַיִ) with an accent markare considered to be closed syllable.

¶ The terms "short" and "long" vowel referred to vowel length.

¶ Some examples how syllables are counted in a word:

זוֹ

/ simple syllable
אַל / simple syllable
כֹּל / mixed syllable

לֶחֶם

/ two syllables
נוֹתֵו / two syllables

אֱלֹהִים

/ three syllables

Word Formation in Verbs

¶Personal pronoun affixes are required to be annexed to the root (שׁוֹרֶשׁ) to provide information related to person, gender and number to the verb. These affixes are to be used in conjunction with a subject noun, or could be taken as the subject noun itself while being glued to the root. For example the root כתב,which could have the meaning “to write” or the act of “writing”,might be configured into “you (male) wrote” by adding personal pronoun affixes known as pronominal sufformatives, resulting into כָּתַבְתָּyou wrote.

¶ There are several sets of these personal pronoun affixes to be used with different Tenses, Mood as subject of the verb or as object of the verb.

¶ In the case of the Perfect Tense, pronominal sufformatives would provide information for person, gender and number of the subject to the verb. Sufformatives could be understood as vocalic sufformatives, which begin with a vowel, or consonantal sufformatives, which begin with a consonant. There are two vocalic sufformatives for the Perfect Tense to be watched out for. All pronominal sufformatives for the Perfect Tense are given below:

plural / singular
אֲנַחְנוּ / ---נוּ / ---תִּי / אֲנִי
אַתֶּם / ---תֶּם / ---תָּ / אַתָּה
אַתֵּן / ---תֶּן / תְּ--- / אַתְּ
הֵם / ---וּ / --- / הוּא
הֵן / ---וּ / ---ָה / הִיא

¶ For the Imperfect Tense, similar information would be provided by the pronominal preformatives, known in Hebrew as אֵיתָן. The Imperative Mood, the Jussive, the Corhotative and the Vow Consecutive shared the same set of personal pronouns prefixes as the Imperfect Tense. There is one vocalic preformative and three vocalic sufformatives required care in the Imperfect Tense.

Plural

/

Singular

אֲנַחְנוּ /

נְ---

/

אֶ---

/ אֲנִי
אַתֶּם / תְּ---וּ /

תְּ---

/ אַתָּה
אַתֵּן / תְּ---נָה / תְּ---ִי / אַתְּ
הֵם / תְּ---וּ / יְ--- / הוּא
הֵן / תְּ---נָה / תְּ--- / הִיא

More Examples:

עָתִיד

Future

/

הוֹוֶה

Present

/

עָבָר

Past

/

מִי

Persons

אֶ-שְׂמֹר

/

שוֹמֵר /

שׁוֹמֶרֶת

/

שָׁמַרְ-תִּי

/

אֲנִי

תִּ-שְׁמֹר / שׁוֹמֵר / שָׁמַרְ-תָּ / אַתָּה
תִּ-שְׁמְרִ-י / שׁוֹמֶרֶת / שָׁמַרְ-תְּ / אַתְּ
יִ-שְׁמֹר / שׁוֹמֵר / שָׁמַר / הוּא
תִּ-שְׁמֹר / שׁוֹמֶרֶת / שָׁמַרָ-ה / הִיא
נִ-שְׁמֹר / שׁוֹמְרִים /

שׁוֹמְרוֹת

/ שָׁמָרְ-נוּ /

אֲנַחְנוּ

תִּ-שְׁמְר-וּ

/ שׁוֹמְרִים / שְׁמַרְ-תֶּם / אַתֶּם
תִּ-שְׁמֹרְ-נָה / שׁוֹמְרוֹת / שְׁמַרְ-תֶּן / אַתֶּן
יִ-שְׁמֹר-וּ / שׁוֹמְרִים / שָׁמְר-וּ / הֵם
תִּ-שְׁמֹרְ-נָה / שׁוֹמְרוֹת / שָׁמְר-וּ / הֵן

¶ A [ִ] (הִירִיק) will take the place of the שְׁוָא under thepronominal prosthesis during conjugation in response to the presence of another שוא under the first consonant of the root, or to a composite shewa if it is a guttural or weak consonant.

¶ The Infinitives would use mostly the inseparable prepositions: ל; and the Participles would accept yet another different set of morphological elements which is similar to those used in the nouns and adjectives.

¶ After adding to the root morphological elements to enrich a word, such as personal pronoun prefixes or suffixes and the like, a word may end up with more syllables.

Vowel Reduction in Hebrew Verbs

I. Shifting of Accent

¶ In the formation of Hebrew word, adding vocalic sufformatives to the verb induces abdication of a hind consonant out of the mixed, stem syllable riding inthe pillion; and it simultaneously triggers accent shift and shortening of stem vowel as vocalic sufformatives could not constitute a full, independent syllable.

Mechanic of Dividing a Syllable

¶ Given a closed, mixed syllable which received the accent rides at the pillion in a bisyllabic word led by a simple, open syllable as in CV-CVC. One of these two consonants, the one at the hind (CVC), will be abdicated to merge with the vocalic (vowel) sufformatives to form another rear syllabletailing after the pillion syllable of the root; and it receives the accent (the accent shifted to this new syllable), example:

they wrote כָּתְבוּכָּתַב+וּ כתבhe wrote.

¶ At the same time, the stem vowel is to be shortened to a [ְ] (שְׁוָא) or a composite shewa or a vowel which reflects the presence of a weak consonant. The שוא in this case virtually closed the preceding syllable, but many textbooks give it as vocal.

¶ Except verbs in the Hiphil binyan and all forms of the Passive Participles, the rule of abdication of a consonant and shortening of the stem vowel to שְׁוָאנָע in a closed syllable shall be applied to the Perfect Tense of all stems when attaching vocalic pronominal sufformatives to the root to form the third person feminine singular ---ָהshe (3fs) and the third person common plural ---וּthey (3cp); in the Imperfect Tense of all stems, the second person feminine singular תְּ---ִיyou(2fs), the second person masculine plural תְּ---וּyou (2mp) and the third person masculine plural יְ---וּthey(3mp); in the Imperative Mood of all stems the second person feminine singular ---ִיyou (2fs) and the second person masculine plural ---וּyou (2mp); The Cohortative Moodאֶ---ָה (1cs), נְ---ָה(1cp); in the Active Participle, the masculine plural, in which case the propretonic reduction of vowel is to be applied simultaneously.

¶ In the Imperfect Tense, the Imperative, Cohortative and Participles, shifting of accent occurs mostly in pluralisation of second person masculine and feminine verbs where propretonic reduction is also involved; and in cases of vocalic sufformatives, shortening of stem vowel takes place simultaneously.

¶ Apparently, where there is no shifting of accent arising out of adding pronominal affixes to the verb, this rule is not applicable, as in the case of the Perfect Tense when adding 1cs (תִּי), 1cp (נוּ) and 2mf (תָּ) to the verb; in the Imperfect Tense: 2fp and 3fp (נָה); in the Imperative 2fp (נָה). These are consonantal sufformatives. In the Participle,the feminine singular, which behaves like segholate noun, in which case the accent falls on the first syllable and the accent does not shift.

¶ There might be some exceptional cases to this rule.

II. Pluralization and Propretonic Reduction of Vowel

¶Propretonic Reduction comes under the purview of pluralization of Hebrew nouns whereby the vowel of the head syllable of a bisyllabic word will be shorten to [ְ] (שְׁוָא נָע) from the default vowel, usually involving [ָ] (קָמֶץ) or [ֵ] (צֵ֑רֵי) as the head vowel of the word.

¶ What actually happened is the head vowel has been transformed from a pretonic position to a propretonic position by the addition of a plural suffix:this action virtually shifts the location of the accent from the mixed, stem syllable to the new syllable. To facilitate articulation, the vowel in the propretonic syllable will be reduced to[ְ] (שְׁוָאנָע).

¶ Propretonic reduction of phonologically unstressed vowel occurs when the plural suffix is added to a noun of which has a head vowel either in[ֵ] (צֵרֵי) or [ָ] (קָמֶץ)in an open, unstressed syllable.

Examples:

i. (words or things masculine plural) דְּבָרִיםדָּבָר (word or thing, masculine).

ii (old men, masculine plural)זְקֵנִיםזָקֵן (old man, masculine singular).

iii. (places, feminine plural) מְקוֹמוֹתמָקוֹם (place, feminine singular).

¶ For example the root דבר becomes דָּבָֽר when it takes on the vowels to configure it into a noun. It begins with the vowel [ָ] (קָמֶץ).Propretonic reduction rule will render it into דְבָרִים during pluralization when a accent is shifted from the home position on the second, stem syllable to the new, last syllable. Not all nouns, however, will go through such reduction.

¶ Not all cases of pluralization would involve the shifting of vowel: in some cases, the accent remained at the mixed, stem syllable, example: תְּעֲמֹ֑דְנָה, קָטַ֑לְנוּ.

¶ Propretonic reduction of vowel is applicable to all words: nouns and verbs alike, including the Participles and the Imperative, so long as thevowel of the head, open syllable is either [ָ] (קָמֶץ) or [ֵ] (צֵ֑רֵי). Some textbooks offer to name the propretonic vowel as the second syllable before the accent and so on.

¶ Verbs or words begin with [ֶ] (סֶ֑גוֹל) adopt and adapt to different set of vowel reduction rule during pluralization known as pretonic reduction of vowel.

¶ Propretonic reduction will take place in nouns as well as in verbs during pluralization in both genders. There are some exceptional cases to this rule.

Pretonic Reduction

¶ In words which has a mixed, closed and unstressed syllable in the head, or the head vowel is unchangeable type, plural suffix will be added without changes to the head vowels. When the given vowel is [ָ] (קמץ), usually at the stem vowel, in such case, it is retained; if it is [ֵ] (צֵרֵי), it is reduced to [ְ] (שווא). This is a situation similar to the rule of abdication of a consonant, but without the reduction of stem vowel.

Examples:

i. (judgements, masuculine plural) מִשְׁפָּטִים מֵשְׁפָּט(judgement, masculine singular).

ii. (messengers, masculine plural) מַלְאָכִיםמַלְאָךְ (messenger, masculine singular).

iii. (altars, feminine plural)מִזְבְּחוֹת מִזְבֵּחַ(altar, feminine singular).

iv. (priests, masculine plural) כֹּהֲנִים כֹּהֵן (priest, masculine).

v. (enemies, masculine plural) מִזְבְּחוֹתאֹיֵב (enemy, masculine singular).

Adjective

טוֹבִים / טוֹב / Masculine
טוֹבוֹת / טוֹבָה / Feminine

Pluralization and Monosyllable Words

¶ Monosyllable words are mostly hollow words distributed along three vowel types:[וּ](שורוק),[יִ](היריק מלא) and [וֹ](חםלם מלא). These vowels, usually placed in the middle of two consonants, some sort of mixed syllable, will not be affected by pluralization: just attach the plural suffix after the words.

III.Dagesh [דָגֶש] and Lengthening of Vowel

1. Compensatory lengthening

¶ Compensatory lengthening (cl) rules are applicable to the occurrence of דָּגֶשin guttural or weak consonants. This rule is applicable to nouns and verbs alike.

¶ In the case of verb, it happens mostly in the Intensive stems, that is, Pi’el, Pu’al and also Hithpa’el stems, involving ע (עַיִן), ר (רֵישׁ) and ח (חֵית) in the ע' position of the root as verbs in the Intensive load aדגש in this consonant of the root.

¶There are three patterns andeach pattern involves the lengthening of a short vowel to a changeable long vowel:

• [ָ] (קָמֶץ)  (becomes) [ַ] (פַּ֑תַּח) )read from this direction(;
• [ִ] (צֵרֵי)[ִ] (הִירִיק);
• [ֹ] (חוֹלָם חָסֵר) (קֻבּוּץ), example (וֹ, בֹּ).
• Compensatory Lengthening rules could be used on the Article.

1. Virtual Doubling

• Virtual Doubling (vd) occurs in nouns as well as in verbs where a weak consonant both refuses דגש and not lengthening the preceding vowel. In the case of a verb, it happens mostly in Pi’el, Pu’al and Hithpa’el where the weak consonant involved would be ע (עַיִן), ר (רֵישׁ) and ח (חֵית) in the ע' position of the root, example: נִחֲמוּ for the word נִחַםhe regretted, where דגש is rejected but not lengthening the preceding vowel.

IV Shewa [ְ] (שְׁוָא) and the Hebrew Verbs

¶Note: A dummy word is used in this section to project the movement of shewa and its changes, example: טטט; it referred to make-up word which not found in use in the language.

1. When two Shewas in a row (contagious):

(i)The שוא occurs at the beginning of word:

(a)The firstשוא is to be shortened to [ִ](היריק) and the second שואbecomes silent shewa (שוא נח), for example: (טִטְטטְטְט);

(b)If the second consonant is [י](יְוֹד), turn them into [ִ י] (הִירִיק מָלֵא), for example: (טִיטטְיְט). One more example: וִיהוּדָה יְהוּדָה+וְ.

(ii)When the שוא occurs at the beginning of word,and theשואis followed by a guttural consonant therefore schlepping with compound or reduced vowel:

(a) Change the first שוא to become a short vowel that corresponds to the reduced vowel, example(טֶטֱט טְטֱטטַטֲט;טְטֲט)

(b) Except that for the wordאֱלֹהִים, the [ְ](shewa) becomes [ֵ] (tsere) and the aleph [א] (אָלֶף) becomes silent (טֵאלֹהִיםטְאֱלֹהִים).

(iii) If the שוא occurs in the middle of word:

(c)the firstשוא is silent (שְׁוָא נָח);

(d)and the second שוא is vocal (שְׁוָא נָע), for example: (טטְטְט)

(iv) When the שוא occurs at the end of word:

(a)Both שוא would be silent (שְׁוָא נָח), for example: כָּתַבְתְּ; יָלַדְתְ(טטְטְ)

Rules for Quiescent Consonants

¶ These rulesshall apply to א, ה, ו, י(אהוי) four of the weak consonants. Under certain conditions these consonants become silent, i.e. no vowel wouldbe attached beneath them. This would occur mostly when these consonants come at the end of a syllable, and the vowel would be assimilated to the preceding consonant. Take heed that when these consonants coming at the end of a syllable could be actually at the beginning of a word, like the word יהודה in the example above.

• The consonant א (אָלֶף)

1. When א(אָלֶף) is silent, it is still being retained in the root (שרש), example: בָרָאhe created, מָצָאhe found.
2. When א(אָלֶף) is prefixed with preposition, such as לְ, or anotherא(אָלֶף) as personal pronoun in the Imperfect Tense, it may cause the losing of the vowel beneath theא(אָלֶף), for example:

לְאֱלֹהִיםאֱלֹהִים+לְ.

(This is the result) לֵאלֹהִיםלֶאֱלֹהִים(applyשוא rule)

V. Mechanic of Inflection for Hebrew Weak Verbs

I. Adding איתן to the verb in the Imperfect Tense

פ"ע / Example One: / Reasoning
1. / This root/word: / עמד
2. / Base form:
Qal Infinitive Construct / קְטֹל / The pair of [ְ+ֹ] (שוא+חולם) is the default vowels for the Infinitive Construct in the Strong Verbs: Qal Stem.
3. / This word is supposed to be like this, but… / עְמֹד / ע cannot carry [ְ] (שְׁוָא): only [ֲ](חֲטַף פַּתָּח)is allowed, therefore…
4. / Now, this assumed the role as base form / עֲמֹד / Qal Infinitive Construct for this root/word.
5. / Next, add prefixes: איתן to Imperfect, Imperative, etc. / תְּ+עֲמֹד / [ֲ](חֲטַף פַּתָּח)is treated as [ְ] (שְׁוָא): when two [ְְ] coming at the front of a word…can you explain what is supposed to take place to the two [ְְ]…?
6. / One more step is needed: why? / תִּעֲמֹד / Initial composite shewa must be matched with a vowel of the same class, thus the vowel [ִ] (חִירִיק) is to be replaced by [ַ] (פַּ֑תַּח).
7. / Finally, this is how the word is being used. / תַּעֲמֹד / Here it is, 3fs or 2ms Imperfect Tense (Future Tense) for the root/word עמד.

Example Two:

פ"ח / Example Two: / Reasoning
1. / This root/word: / חזק
2. / Base form:
Qal Infinitive Construct / קְטֹל / The pair of [ְ+ֹ] (שוא+חולם) is the default vowels for the Infinitive Construct in the Strong Verbs: Qal Stem.
3. / This word is supposed to be like this, but… /

חְזֹק

/ ח cannot carry [ְ] (שְׁוָא): only [ֱ](חֲטַף סֶגוֹל) is allowed for ח in the Imperfect, therefore…
4 / Now, this assumed the role as base form / חֱזֹק / Qal Infinitive Construct for this root/word; but just one more step…
5. / Why the stem vowel is changed to פַּ֑תַּח? / חֱזַק / The root/word חזק is a stative verb; and in the Imperfect, most if not all, stative verbs load פתח as stem vowel. Most of the פ"ח verbs come under this category.
6. / Is it the base form or the Imperative? / חֱזַק / For פ"ח verbs, the head syllable takes [ֱ](חֲטַף סֶגוֹל), whereas the Imperative takes [ֲ](חֲטַף פַּתָּח) as head syllable vowel.
7. / Next, add prefixes: אתין to Imperfect, Imperative, etc. / תְּ+חֱזַק+וּ / [ֱ](חֲטַף סֶגוֹל)is treated as [ְ] (שְׁוָא): when two [ְְ] coming at the front of a word…can you explain what is supposed to take place to the two [ְְ]…?
8. / First result… / תִּחֱזַק+וּ / Initial compound shewa must be matched with a vowel of the same class, thus the compound shewa [ֱ] (חֲטַף סֶגוֹל) is to be replaced by [ֶ] (סֶגוֹל).
9 / One more step is needed: why? / תֶּחֱזַק+וּ / The 3mp sufformative [וּ] (שׁוּרוּק) is vocalic, that is, it is a vowel, therefore it needs to have a consonant placed in front of it to form a syllable and receives the accent. Where does the consonant should come from? The rule of abdication of a consonant and shortening of the stem vowel comes to play here.
10 / Finally, this is how the word is being used. / תֶּחֱזְקוּ / Here it is, 3mp for Imperfect for the root/word חזק.