Sephardi Hebrew - Phonology of Sephardi Hebrew

Phonology of Sephardi Hebrew

There is some variation between the various forms of Sephardi Hebrew, but the following generalisations may be made.

• The stress tends to fall on the last syllable wherever this is the case in Biblical Hebrew
• The letter ע (`ayin) is realized as a sound, though the specific sound varies between communities. One pronunciation associated with Sephardi Hebrew is a velar nasal sound, as in English singing.
• "Resh" is invariably trilled (like Spanish r) rather than uvular (like French r)
• /t/ and /d/ are more often realized as dental plosives rather than alveolar.
• There is always a phonetic distinction between ת (tav) and ס (samekh)
• The Sephardi dialects observe the Kimhian five-vowel system (a e i o u), either with or without distinctions of vowel length: that is
  • Tsere is pronounced, not
  • Holam is pronounced, not or
  • Kamats gadol is pronounced, not

This last difference is the standard shibboleth for distinguishing Sephardi from Ashkenazi (and Yemenite) Hebrew. The differentiation between kamatz gadol and kamatz katan is made according to purely phonetic rules without regard to etymology, which occasionally leads to spelling pronunciations at variance with the rules laid down in Biblical Hebrew grammar books. For example, כָל (all), when unhyphenated, is pronounced "kal" rather than "kol" (in "kal 'atsmotai" and "Kal Nidre"), and צָהֳרַיִם (noon) is pronounced "tsahorayim" rather than "tsohorayim". This feature is also found in Mizrahi Hebrew, but is not found in Israeli Hebrew. It is represented in the transliteration of proper names in the Authorised Version, such as "Naomi", "Aholah" and "Aholibamah".