Ashkenazi Hebrew - Influence On Modern Hebrew

Influence On Modern Hebrew

Although Modern Hebrew was intended to be based on Mishnaic spelling and Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation, the language as spoken in Israel has adapted to Ashkenazi Hebrew phonology in the following respects:

• the elimination of pharyngeal articulation in the letters Ḥeth and ʿAyin
• the conversion of resh from an alveolar flap to a voiced uvular fricative or trill (see Guttural R)
• the pronunciation of tzere as in some contexts (sifrey and teysha instead of Sephardic sifré and tésha' )
• the elimination of vocal sheva (zman instead of Sephardic zĕman)
• some of the letter names (yud and kuf instead of Sephardic yod and qof)
• in popular speech, penultimate stress in proper names (Dvóra instead of Dĕvorá; Yehúda instead of Yehudá)
• similarly, penultimate stress in nouns or verbs with a second or third person plural suffix (katávtem instead of kĕtavtém; shalom aléykhem instead of shalom alekhém).