12/9/2016 Hebrewlanguage,alphabetandpronunciation

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Hebrew
HebrewisamemberoftheCanaanitegroupofSemiticlanguages.ItwasthelanguageoftheearlyJews,but
from586BCitstartedtobereplacedbyAramaic.By200ADuseofHebrewasaneverydaylanguagehad
largelyceased,butitcontinuedtobeusedforliteraryandreligiousfunctions,aswellasalinguafrancaamong
Jewsfromdifferentcountries.

Hebrewataglance
Nativename:[ivit/ivit]
Linguisticaffliation:AfroAsiatic,Semitic,CentralSemitic,NorthwestSemitic,Canaanite
Numberofspeakers:c.7.4million
Spokenin:mainlyIsrael,andalsoinArgentina,Australia,Brazil,Canada,France,Germany,PalestinianWestBankandGaza,Panama,the
UKandUSA
Firstwritten:10thcenturyBC
Writingsystem:Hebrewscript
Status:officiallanguageinIsraelrecognisedminoritylanguageinPoland

Duringthemid19thcenturythefirsteffortsweremadetoreviveHebrewasaeverydaylanguage.Oneman
whoplayedamajorroleintheseeffortswasEliezerBenYehuda(18581922),whowasthefirsttomake
exclusiveuseofHebrewinhishome,andencouragedtheuseofHebrewamongothers,aswellasitsusein
schools.

TodayHebrewisspokenbysome5millionpeoplemainlyinIsrael,whereitisanofficiallanguagealongwith
Arabic.andafurther2millionpeoplespeakthelanguageinArgentina,Australia,Brazil,Canada,France,
Germany,PalestinianWestBankandGaza,Panama,theUKandUSA.

Hebrewalphabet
ThefirstalphabetusedtowriteHebrewemergedduringthelatesecondandfirstmillenniaBC.Itisclosely
relatedtothePhoenicianalphabet.ThemodernHebrewalphabetwasdevelopedfromanalphabetknownas
ProtoHebrew/EarlyAramaic.

Notablefeatures
Typeofwritingsystem:abjad

Directionofwriting:righttoleftinhorizontallines.

Numberofletters:22consonants,plusfinallettersanddiacritics
Usedtowrite:Hebrew,JudeoArabic,Ladino,YiddishandmanyotherJewishlanguages.
Someletters(kaf,mem,nun,feandtzadi)haveafinalform(sofit),whichisusedwhentheyappearattheend
ofaword.

TherearenoseparatenumeralsinHebrew,insteadstandardwesternnumerals(1,2,3,etc)areused.
Longvowelscanbeindicatedbythelettersalef,vav,andyod.Shortvowelsarenotusuallymarked,exceptin
theBible,poetryandbooksforchildrenandforeignlearners.

TheHebrewscript
ModernIsraelipronunciation

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12/9/2016 Hebrewlanguage,alphabetandpronunciation

Notes
hetisofficiallypronounced[],butmanypeoplepronounceit[x]

ayinisofficiallypronounced[],butmanypeoplepronounceit[]

Hebrewvowelpoints/Niqqud( )
ThissystemofindicatingvowelswasdevisedbytheMasoreticscholarsinTiberiasinaround750AD.Itis
knownasTiberianvocalization,Tiberianpointing,orTiberianniqqud,or inHebrew.

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ModernCursiveHebrewscript

BiblicalHebrew( ) /ClassicalHebrew( )
BiblicalorClassicalHebrewistheformofHebrewusedinIsraelandJudahfromaboutthe10thcenturyBC
untilthe2ndcenturyAD.TextsincludetheHebrewBible,andotherreligiousandhistoricalwritings.Itwas
writtenwithoutvowelindicationatfirst,andovertimesomeconsonants,knownasmatreslectionis,cametobe
usedtoindicatevowels.

BiblicalHebrewwasfirstwrittenwiththePhoenicianscript,whichdevelopedintothePaleoHebrewscriptby
the10thor9thcenturyBC.Bythe6thcenturyBCtheAramaicscriptbegantoreplacethePaleoHebrewscript.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Hebrew

TiberianHebrew
ThisisthereconstructedpronunciationoftheHebrewusedbetween750950ADbyMasoreticscholarsliving
intheJewishcommunityofTiberiasinancientJudea.

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12/9/2016 Hebrewlanguage,alphabetandpronunciation

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberian_Hebrew

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Rashi
TheRashistyleisusedmainlytowritecommentariesontexts.ItisnamedafterRabbiShlomoYitzchaki(1040
1105AD)a.k.a.Rashi,oneofthegreatestmedievalJewishscholarsandbiblecommentators.Rashididnot
usetheRashisytletowritehiscommentariesbutitisnamedinhonourofhim.

Download
DownloadaHebrewalphabetchartinWordorPDFformat

SampletextsinHebrew
Withoutvowels(SeriffontDavid)

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hebrew.htm Withoutvowels(SansSeriffontArial) 4/7

Withoutvowels(SansSeriffontArial)

Withvowels

Cursivescript

Anotherversionofthecursivescript

Cursivescriptwithligatures(informal)

Transliteration
Kolbeneiha'adamnoldubeneixorinveshavimbe'erkamuvizxuyoteihem.Kulamxonenubatevuna
uvematspun,lefixaxxova'aleihemlinhogishbere'ehuberuaxshelaxava.

Arecordingofthistextby(GalWeisberg)

0:00 /0:13

AnotherrecordingofthistextbyTalBarnea

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12/9/2016 Hebrewlanguage,alphabetandpronunciation

0:00 /0:10

AnimprovedversionofthistextbyYitzchakGale

Transliteration
Kolbeneiha'adamnoldubeneixorinveshavimbe'erkamuvizxuyoteihem.Kulamxonenubatevuna
uvematspun,vxova'aleihemlinhogishbere'ehuberuaxshelaxava.

Translation
Allhumanbeingsarebornfreeandequalindignityandrights.Theyareendowedwithreasonandconscience
andshouldacttowardsoneanotherinaspiritofbrotherhood.
(Article1oftheUniversalDeclarationofHumanRights)

CorrectionsandtextsamplesprovidedbyTalBarnea

InformationaboutHebrew|Phrases|Numbers|Tellingthetime|TowerofBabel|Articles|BiblicalHebrew
videolessons|ModernHebrewvideolessons|Hebrewlinks|Hebrewlearningmaterials

Links
InformationabouttheHebrewlanguageandalphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language
http://judaism.about.com/od/hebre1/Hebrew.htm
LearnHebrew
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0008_0_08629.html Price: $33.80
ListPrice: $39.80
ModernHebrewlessonsandcourses Yousave: 15%
http://www.zigzagworld.com/hebrewforme
http://www.hebrewpodcasts.com InStock.
http://www.ulpan.net Shippingtimeworld
http://hebrewspeaker.blogspot.com wideistypically6days.
http://www.linguanaut.com/learn_hebrew.htm
http://foundationstone.com.au
http://www.hebraico.pro.br Addtocart

http://polymath.org/hebrew.php
BiblicalHebrewlessonsandcourses
http://www.netwaysglobal.com Tryitforfree

http://www.shalom.50megs.com
http://www.hebrew4christians.net

LearnHebrewonlinewithHebrewPod101
PracticalHebrewlearntospeaktheHebrewthatreallymatters

LearnConversationalHebrew

LearnHebrewwithdictionaries,onlinecoursesandeasyHebrewmagazines

FreeHebrewfonts
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Hebrew.html
http://oketz.com/fonts/

MoreHebrewlanguagelinks

Semiticlanguages
Akkadian,Amharic,Arabic(Algerian),Arabic(Egyptian),Arabic(Lebanese),Arabic(Modern
Standard),Arabic(Moroccan),Arabic(Syrian),Aramaic,Argobba,Assyrian/NeoAssyrian,
Canaanite,Chaha,ChaldeanNeoAramaic,Ge'ez,Hadhramautic,Hebrew,Himyaritic,JewishNeoAramaic,

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12/9/2016 Hebrewlanguage,alphabetandpronunciation
Maltese,Mandaic,Nabataean,NeoMandaic,Phoenician,Punic,Qatabanic,
Sabaean,Sabaic,Silt'e,Syriac,Tigre,Tigrinya,Turoyo,Ugaritic,Western
NeoAramaic

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LanguageswrittenwiththeHebrewscript
Aramaic,Bukhori,Hebrew,JewishNeoAramaic,JudeoArabic,Juhuri,Karaim,Ladino,Yiddish

Consonantalphabets(Abjads)
AncientBerber,Arabic,Hebrew,Mandaic,Manichaean,MiddlePersian,Nabataean,Parthian,Phoenician,
PaleoHebrew,ProtoSinaitic/ProtoCanaanite,Psalter,Punic,Sabaean,Samaritan,Sogdian,SouthArabian,
Syriac,Tifinagh,Ugaritic

ALPHABETUMaUnicodefontspecificallydesignedforancientscripts,includingclassical&medievalLatin,
ancientGreek,Etruscan,Oscan,Umbrian,Faliscan,Messapic,Picene,Iberian,Celtiberian,Gothic,Runic,Old
&MiddleEnglish,Hebrew,Sanskrit,OldNordic,Ogham,Kharosthi,Glagolitic,OldCyrillic,Phoenician,
Avestan,Ugaritic,LinearB,Anatolianscripts,Coptic,Cypriot,Brahmi,OldPersiancuneiform:
http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html

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