Shva
Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, shĕwa is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots beneath a letter. It indicates either the phoneme or the complete absence of a vowel .
It is transliterated as,,, , or nothing. Note that use of for shva is questionable: transliterating Modern Hebrew shva naḥ with is misleading, since it is never actually pronounced – a mid central vowel does not exist in Modern Hebrew. The vowel was pronounced as a full vowel in earlier Hebrew varieties such as Tiberian vocalization, where it was phonetically usually identical to short , in Palestinian vocalization appears as short or , and in Babylonian vocalization as . In early Greek and Latin transliterations of Hebrew such as the Hexapla, it appears as and , respectively.
A shva sign in combination with the vowel diacritics patáḥ, segól, and qamatz produces a : a diacritic for a . In Tiberian Hebrew, these were pronounced identical to the short vowels , , and .
Pronunciation in Modern Hebrew
In Modern Hebrew, shva is either pronounced or is mute, regardless of its traditional classification as shva nach or shva na, see following table for examples. The Israeli standard for its transliteration is only for a pronounced shva na, and no representation in transliteration if the shva is mute.In Modern Hebrew, a shva is pronounced under the following conditions:
Counterexamples
One exception to rule 2 seems to be מְלַאי 'inventory' ; the absence of a vowel after the might be attributable to the high sonority of the subsequent liquid , compare with מְלִית 'filling'.Exceptions to rule 6 include פְּסַנְתְּרָן, אַנְגְּלִית, נַשְׁפְּרִיץ, several inflections of quinqueliteral roots – e.g.: סִנְכְּרֵן ; חִנְטְרֵשׁ ; הִתְפְלַרְטֵט – as well as other, more recent loanwords, e.g. מַנְטְרַה.
In earlier forms of Hebrew, shva na and nach were phonologically and phonetically distinguishable, but the two variants resulting from Modern Hebrew phonology no longer conform to the traditional classification, e.g. while the shva nach in the phrase סִפְרֵי תורה is correctly pronounced in Modern Hebrew with the being mute, the shva na in זְמַן in Modern Hebrew is often pronounced as a mute Shva. In religious contexts, however, scrupulous readers of the prayers and scriptures do still differentiate properly between Shva Nach and Shva Na.
Traditional classification
In traditional Hebrew grammar, a shva is categorized according to several attributes of its grammatical context. The three categories of shva relevant to the prescriptive grammar of Modern Hebrew are shva naʻ, shva naḥ and the less common shva meraḥef. When discussing Tiberian pronunciation, some shvas are classified as shva gaʻya. The following table summarizes four distinguishing attributes which determine these categories:- Does the shva supersede a vowel or no vowel in the word's non-inflected form?
- Is the preceding letter pointed with a "short" or a "long" niqqud variant?
- Is the following letter, when Begadkefat, pointed with a dagesh qal or not?
- Is the letter pointed with shva assigned to the preceding or following syllable?
Shva Naʻ
In most cases, traditional Hebrew grammar considers shva naʻ "mobile shva" to supersede a vowel that exists in the basic form of a word but was reduced due to inflection or declension. Additionally, any shva marked under an initial letter is classified shva naʻ.Identifying a shva as shva naʻ is relevant to the application of niqqud in Tiberian Hebrew, e.g., a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a shva naʻ may not be marked with a dagesh qal; the vowel preceding a letter marked with a shva naʻ must be represented by the "long" niqqud variant for that vowel: qamats and not pataḥ, tsere and not segol, etc.. Furthermore, in the standard syllabification, the letter under which a shva naʻ is marked is grouped with the following syllable.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language's transliteration guidelines specify that shva naʻ should be transliterated only if pronounced in Modern Hebrew, in which case be used for general purposes and for precise transliteration. Shva naʻ is sometimes transliterated. However, this symbol is misleading since it is commonly used in linguistics to denote the vowel schwa, which does not exist in Modern Hebrew.
A shva naʻ can be identified with the following criteria:
- When marked under the first letter of a word, as in מְרַחֵף, לְפָנָי, and שְׁמַע,
- When marked under the first of two identical letters,
- When it's the second of two shvas marked under two consecutive letters, as in רַעְמְסֵס ramʻasēs and וישְׁמְעו wišmaʻu,
- When the letter before the one under which it is marked is marked with a "long" niqqud variant,, such as the long vowel of either yod or ḥiriq, as in יְחִֽידְֿךָ , or the long vowel of wāw or ḥolam, as in the words הוֹלְכִֿים, יוֹדְֿעִים and מוֹכְֿרִים and שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים, "šofaṭim wašoṭarim."
- When marked under a letter with a dagesh ḥazaq, as מִפְּנֵיכֶם and מִקְּדָֿשׁ.
Shva Naḥ
Traditional Hebrew grammar defines shva naḥ, or shva quiescens, as indicating the absence of a vowel. In Modern Hebrew, some shvas classified as shva naḥ are nonetheless pronounced .In a few cases, a shva not conforming to the criteria listed above is classified as shva naḥ. This offers no conclusive indication as to its pronunciation in Modern Hebrew; it is, however, relevant to the application of standard niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a shva nacḥ must be marked with a dagesh qal, or: the vowel prior to a letter marked with a shva naḥ must be represented by the "short" niqqud-variant for that vowel: pataḥ and not qamats, segol and not tsere etc.. Furthermore, in standard syllabification, the letter under which a shva naḥ is marked is grouped with the preceding syllable.
The Academy of the Hebrew Language's transliteration guidelines specify that shva naḥ should not be represented in transliteration.
Shva Meraḥef
"Shva meraḥef" is the grammatical designation of a shva which does not comply with all criteria characterizing a shva naʻ, but which does, like a shva na’, supersede a vowel that exists in the primary form of a word but not after this word underwent inflection or declension.The classification of a shva as shva meraḥef is relevant to the application of standard niqqud, e.g.: a בג״ד כפ״ת letter following a letter marked with a shva meraḥef should not be marked with a dagesh qal. The vowel preceding this letter could be represented by the short niqqud-variant for that vowel. This sometimes, but not always, reflects pronunciation in Modern Hebrew; e.g. מַלְכֵי is commonly pronounced in accordance with the standard form, , whereas כַּלְבֵי, whose standard pronunciation is, is commonly pronounced . In standard syllabification, the letter under which a shva meraḥef is marked is grouped with the preceding syllable.
Shva Gaʻya
Shva gaʻya designates a shva marked under a letter that is also marked with the cantillation mark , or, e.g. the shva under the letter bet in the word בְּהוֹנוֹת "toes" would normally be classified a shva naʻ and be transliterated : . However, if marked with the gaʻya cantillation mark,, this shva is classified as shva gaʻya, and the transliteration believed to reflect its historical pronunciation would be. This "strict application" is found in Yemenite Hebrew.T'nua hatufa
Within niqqud, vowel diacritics are sorted into three groups: big, small and fleeting or furtive, sometimes also referred to as long, short and very short or ultrashort. This grouping might have correlated to different vowel lengths in earlier forms of Hebrew.The vowel diacritics classified as all share the common feature of being a digraph of a small vowel diacritic plus a shva sign. Similarly, their names are derived from the respective small vowel diacritic's name plus the adjunct :, and.
As with a shva na, standard syllabification determines that letters pointed with a fleeting vowel diacritic be considered part of the subsequent syllable, even if in modern Hebrew pronunciation this diacritic represents a full-fledged syllable, thus e.g. the phonologically trisyllabic word הֶעֱמִיד, pronounced, should standardly be syllabified into only two syllables, הֶ—עֱמִיד.