Ktiv hasar niqqud
Ktiv hasar niqqud, colloquially known as ktiv maleh, are the rules for writing Hebrew without vowel points , often replacing them with matres lectionis. To avoid confusion, consonantal and are doubled in the middle of words. In general use, niqqud are rarely used, except in specialized texts such as dictionaries, poetry, or texts for children or for new immigrants.
Comparison example
From a Hebrew translation of "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe :| Ktiv male | With niqqud |
Historical examination
Ktiv haser
Ktiv haser is writing whose consonants match those generally used in voweled text, but without the actual niqqud. For example, the words שֻׁלְחָן and דִּבֵּר written in ktiv haser are שלחן and דבר. In vowelled text, the niqqud indicate the correct vowels, but when the niqqud is missing, the text is difficult to read, and the reader must make use of the context of each word to know the correct reading.A typical example of a Hebrew text written in ktiv haser is the Torah, read in synagogues. For assistance, readers often use a Tikkun, a book where the text of the Torah appears in two side-by-side versions, one identical to the text which appears in the Torah, and one with niqqud and cantillation.
Ktiv male
Due to the difficulty of reading unvowelled text, the Va'ad ha-lashon introduced the Rules for the Spelling-Without-Niqqud, which in reality dictates ktiv male. This system mostly involved the addition of and to mark the different vowels. Later on, these rules were adopted by the Academy of the Hebrew Language, which continued to revise them, and they were mostly accepted by the public, mainly for official writing.Ktiv haser became obsolete in Modern Hebrew, and ktiv male has already been dominant for decades in unvowelled texts: all of the newspapers and books published in Hebrew are written in ktiv male. Additionally, it is common for children's books or texts for those with special needs to contain niqqud, but ktiv haser without niqqud is rare.
Despite the Academy's standardization of the rules for ktiv male, there is a substantial absence of unity in writing, partly because of a lack of grammatical knowledge, partly because of the historical layers of the language, and partly because of a number of linguistic categories in which the Academy's decisions are not popular. As a result, book publishers and newspaper editors make their own judgments.
Rules for spelling without niqqud
As is the norm for linguistic rules, the rules for spelling without niqqud are not entirely static. Changes occur from time to time, based on amassed experience. For example, originally the rules for spelling without niqqud dictated that rtl=yes isha should be written without a yod , but currently the exception has been removed, and now, the Academy prefers rtl=yes. The last substantial change to the rules for spelling without niqqud was made in 1993 updated in 1996. The following is the summary of the current rules:- Every letter that appears in vowelled text also appears in unvowelled text.
- After a letter vowelled with a kubuts, the letter waw appears: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes.
- After a letter vowelled with a holam haser the letter waw appears: rtl=yes, rtl=yes.
- After a letter vowelled with a hirik haser the letter yod appears: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes. The letter yod does not appear in the following situations:
- * Before a shva nah, for example: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes ;
- * Words whose base forms do not contain the vowel /i/: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes, which are inflected forms of rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes;, respectively
- * After affix letters, like in rtl=yes, rtl=yes, and also in the words: rtl=yes im, rtl=yes hine
- * Before : rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes.
- After a letter vowelled with a tsere the letter yod generally does not appear: rtl=yes, rtl=yes , but there are situations when yod does appear: rtl=yes, rtl=yes and in words in which tsere replaces hirik because the presence of a guttural letter : rtl=yes, rtl=yes.
- Consonantal vav is doubled in the middle of a word: rtl=yes, rtl=yes. The letter is not doubled at the beginning or the end of a word: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes. Initial vav is doubled when an affix letter is added except for the affix . Thus from the word rtl=yes varod one has rtl=yes ha-varod but rtl=yes u-varod.
- Consonantal yod is doubled in the middle of a word, for example: rtl=yes, rtl=yes. The letter is not doubled at the beginning of a word or after affix letters: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes. Still, consonantal yod is not doubled in the middle of a word where it appears before or after a mater lectionis: rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes, rtl=yes.