Mizrahi Hebrew or Oriental Hebrew refers to any one of the pronunciation systems for Biblical Hebrew used liturgically by Mizrahi Jews, that is, Jews living in Arab countries or further east, and typically speaking Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Turkish, or other languages of the Middle East and Asia. As such, Mizrahi Hebrew is actually a blanket term for many dialects. Sephardi Hebrew is not considered one of these, although it has been spoken in the Middle East and North Africa. The Sephardim were expellees from Spain, and settled among the Mizrahim, but in countries such as Syria and Morocco there was a fairly high degree of convergence between the Sephardi and the local pronunciations of Hebrew. Yemenite Hebrew is also considered quite separate, as it has a wholly different system for the pronunciation of the vowels. The same terms are sometimes used for the pronunciation of modern Israeli Hebrew by Jews of Arab or other Mizrahi origins. This is generally a compromise between standard Israeli Hebrew and the traditional liturgical pronunciation as described in this article.
Features
The following features are generally found in the pronunciation of Jews from Arabic-speaking countries, and the variations tend to follow the Arabic dialect of the country in question.
- The stress tends to fall on the last syllable wherever this is the case in Biblical Hebrew
- ב (Bet without dagesh) is pronounced [b] in some countries (e.g. Iraq), and [v] in others (e.g. Morocco)
- ו (Vav) is pronounced [v] in some countries and [w] in others (e.g. Iraq)
- ח (ִHet) is pronounced [ħ], like Arabic ح (voiceless pharyngeal fricative)
- ט (Tet) is pronounced [tˤ], like Arabic ط (voiceless pharyngealized alveolar plosive)
- ע (Ayin) is pronounced [ʕ], like Arabic ع (voiced pharyngeal fricative)
- צ (Tsadi) is pronounced [sˁ], like Arabic ص (voiceless pharyngealized alveolar fricative)
- ק (Qof) is usually pronounced [q] like Classical Arabic ق (voiceless uvular plosive) but other sounds occur, such as [k], [g] or [ʔ] (glottal stop).
- ר (Resh) is usually trilled [r], rather than uvular [ʁ]
- ת (Tav without dagesh) is pronounced [t] in some countries, and [θ] in others (e.g. Iraq)
- Vowels generally have the same sounds as in Sephardi Hebrew: that is
- Tsere is pronounced [e:]
- Holam is pronounced [o:]
- Kamats gadol is pronounced [a:]
The pronunciation of Mizrahi Jews from non-Arab countries differs in some respects. For example, among Persian Jews distinctively Arabic sounds such as ح [ħ] and ط [tˤ] do not occur, and Kamats gadol is backed to [ɑ] (the sound in English "awe") like the long a in Persian.
Bibliography
- Idelsohn, A.Z., Phonographierte Gesänge und Aussprachsproben des Hebräischen der jemenitischen, persischen und syrischen Juden: Vienna 1917
- Katz, K., Masoret ha-lashon ha-'Ivrit shel Yehude Aram-Tsova (ִHalab) bi-qeriat ha-Miqra ve-ha-Mishnah (The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Jews of Aleppo in the Reading of the Bible and Mishnah): Jerusalem 1981 (Hebrew)
- Katz, K., The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Community of Djerba (Tunisia)
- Morag, S., Masoret ha-lashon ha-'Ivrit shel Yehude Bagdad, bi-qeriat ha-Mikra ve-ha-Mishnah (The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Baghdad Community: the Phonology): Jerusalem 1977
- Yeivin, I., The Hebrew Language Tradition as Reflected in the Babylonian Vocalization: Jerusalem 1985 (Hebrew)
See also
- Yemenite Hebrew language
- Sephardi Hebrew language
- Ashkenazi Hebrew
- Hebrew pronunciation of Syrian Jews
