Niqqud

Niqqud
ְ   ֱ   ֲ   ֳ   ִ   ֵ   ֶ   ַ   ָ   ֹ   ֻ   ּ   ֿ   ׁ   ׂ
Other diacritics	cantillation, geresh, gershayim
Example
Gen. 1:9, And God said, "Let the waters be collected". Letters in black, niqqud in red, cantillation in blue[1]
Niqqud articles
Shva · Hiriq · Zeire · Segol · Patach · Kamatz · Holam · Dagesh · Mappiq · Shuruk · Kubutz · Rafe · Sin/Shin Dot

See also: Tiberian vocalization

In Hebrew orthography, niqqud or nikkud (Hebrew: נִקּוּד, Modern nikud Tiberian niqqûḏ ; "dotting, pointing" or Hebrew: נְקֻדּוֹת, Modern nekudot Tiberian nəquddôṯ ; "dots") is a system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several such diacritical systems were developed in the Early Middle Ages. The most widespread system, and the only one still used to a significant degree today, was created by the Masoretes of Tiberias in the second half of the first millennium in the Land of Israel (see Masoretic Text, Tiberian Hebrew). Text written with niqqud is called ktiv menuqad.

Niqqud marks are small compared to consonants, so they can be added without retranscribing texts whose writers did not anticipate them.

In modern Israeli orthography niqqud is seldom used, except in specialised texts such as dictionaries, poetry, or texts for children or for new immigrants. For purposes of disambiguation, a system of spelling without niqqud, known in Hebrew as ktiv maleh (Hebrew: כתיב מלא‎), literally "full spelling", has developed. This was formally standardised in the Rules for Spelling without Niqqud (כללי הכתיב חסר הניקוד) enacted by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 1996.^[2]

Among those who do not speak Hebrew, niqqud are the sometimes unnamed focus of controversy regarding the interpretation of those written with the Tetragrammaton—written as יְהֹוָה in Hebrew. The interpretation affects discussion of the authentic ancient pronunciation of the name whose other conventional English forms are "Jehovah" and "Yahweh".

Important: There is currently a serious bug affecting niqqud in all Wikimedia projects. See Wikipedia:Niqqud for a discussion of the problem in English, and click the language link in the sidebar for an extensive analysis of the problem in Hebrew.

Demonstration

This table uses the consonants ב ,ח or ש, where appropriate, to demonstrate where the niqqud is placed in relation to the consonant it is pronounced after. Any other consonants shown are actually part of the vowel. Note that there is some variation among different traditions in exactly how some vowel points are pronounced. The table below shows how most Israelis would pronounce them, but the classic Ashkenazi pronunciation, for example, differs in several respects.

This demonstration is known to work in Internet Explorer and Mozilla browsers in at least some circumstances, but in most other Windows browsers the niqqud do not properly combine with the consonants. It works very well when "dir=rtl" is added in the HTML source. This is because, currently, the Windows text display engine does not combine the niqqud automatically. Except as noted, the vowel pointings should appear directly beneath the consonants and the accompanying "vowel letter" consonants for the mālê (long) forms appear after.

Note concerning IPA: the transcription symbols are linked to the articles about the sounds they represent. The diacritic ˘ (breve) indicates a short vowel; the triangular colon symbol ː indicates that the vowel is long.

Symbol	Type	Common name	Alternate names	Scientific name	Hebrew	IPA	Transliteration	Comments
בְ	Israeli	Sh'va	sheva	šəva	שְׁוָא	[e̞] or Ø	ə, e, ', or nothing	In modern Hebrew, shva represents either /e/ or Ø, regardless of its traditional classification as shva naḥ (שווא נח) or shva na (שווא נע), see the following table for examples: Pronunciation of shva in modern Hebrew   Occurrences of shva denoting the vowel /e/) Occurrences of shva denoting Ø (absence of a vowel) shva naḥ* [kiˈmate̞t] הִתְמוֹטַטְתְּ [hitmo̞ˈtate̞t] קִפַּלְתְּ [kiˈpalt] הִתְקַפַּלְתְּ [hitkaˈpalt] shva na שָׁדְדוּ [ʃade̞ˈdu] לְאַט [le̞ˈat] שָׂרְדוּ [sarˈdu] זְמַן [zman] *All shvas in the words "קִמַּטְתְּ" and "הִתְמוֹטַטְתְּ" are shva naḥ, nonetheless those marked under the letter tet ("ט") are pronounced /e/ ([e̞])
	Tiberian			šəwâ	שְׁוָא	[ɐ̆] [ɛ̆] [ĕ] [ĭ] [ɔ̆] [ŏ] [ŭ]
חֱ	Israeli	Reduced segol	hataf segol	ḥataf seggol	חֲטַף סֶגּוֹל	[e̞]	e	–
	Tiberian			ḥăṭep̄ səḡôl	חֲטֶף סְגוֹל	[ɛ̆]	ĕ	‒
חֲ	Israeli	Reduced patach	hataf patah	ḥataf pátaḥ	חֲטַף פַּתַח	[a]	a	–
	Tiberian			ḥăṭep̄ páṯaḥ	חֲטֶף פַּתַח	[ɐ̆]	ă	–
חֳ	Israeli	Reduced kamatz	hataf kamats	ḥataf qamaẓ	חֲטַף קָמָץ	[o̞]	o	–
	Tiberian			ḥăṭep̄ qāmeṣ	חֲטֶף קָמֶץ	[ɔ̆]	ŏ	–
בִ	Israeli	Hiriq	hiriq	ḥiriq	חִירִיק	[i]	i	Usually promoted to Hiriq Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.
	Tiberian			ḥîreq	חִירֶק	[i] or [iː])	i or í	–
בִי	Israeli	Hiriq malei	hiriq yod	ḥiriq male	חִירִיק מָלֵא	[i]	i	–
	Tiberian			ḥîreq mālê	חִירֶק מָלֵא	[iː]	î	–
בֵ	Israeli	Zeire	tsere, tzeirei	ẓere	צֵירֵי	[e̞]	e	–
	Tiberian			ṣērê	צֵרֵי	[eː]	ē	–
בֵי, בֵה, בֵא	Israeli	Zeire malei	tsere yod, tzeirei yod	ẓere male	צֵירֵי מָלֵא	[e̞]	e	More commonly ei (IPA [ei]).
	Tiberian			ṣērê mālê	צֵרֵי מָלֵא	[eː]	ê	–
בֶ	Israeli	Segol	segol	seggol	סֶגּוֹל	[e̞]	e	–
	Tiberian			səḡôl	סְגוֹל	[ɛ] or [ɛː]	e or é	–
בֶי, בֶה, בֶא	Israeli	Segol malei	segol yod	seggol male	סֶגּוֹל מָלֵא	[e̞]	e	With succeeding yod, it is more commonly ei (IPA [e̞i])
	Tiberian			səḡôl mālê	סְגוֹל מָלֵא	[ɛː]	ệ	–
בַ	Israeli	Patach	patah	pátaḥ	פַּתַח	[a]	a	A patach on a letters ח, ע, ה at the end of a word is sounded before the letter, and not behind. Thus, נֹחַ (Noah) is pronounced /ˈno.ax/. This only occurs at the ends of words and only with patach and ח, ע, and הּ (that is, ה with a dot (mappiq) in it). This is sometimes called a patach g'nuvah, or "stolen" patach (more formally, "furtive patach"), since the sound "steals" an imaginary epenthetic consonant to make the extra syllable.
	Tiberian			páṯaḥ	פַּתַח	[ɐ] or [ɐː]	a or á	–
בַה, בַא	Israeli	Patach malei	patah yod	pátaḥ male	פַּתַח מָלֵא	[a]	a	–
	Tiberian			páṯaḥ mālê	פַּתַח מָלֵא	[ɐː]	ậ	–
בָ	Israeli	Kamatz gadol	kamats	qamaẓ gadol	קָמַץ גָּדוֹל	[a]	a	–
	Tiberian			qāmeṣ gāḏôl	קָמֶץ גָּדוֹל	[ɔː]	ā	–
בָה, בָא	Israeli	Kamatz malei	kamats he	qamaẓ male	קָמַץ מָלֵא	[a]	a	comm
	Tiberian			qāmeṣ mālê	קָמֶץ מָלֵא	[ɔː]	â	–
בָ	Israeli	Kamatz katan	kamats hatuf	qamaẓ qatan	קָמַץ קָטָן	[o̞]	o	Usually promoted to Holam Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. Also, not to be confused with Hataf Kamatz.
	Tiberian			qāmeṣ qāṭān	קָמֶץ קָטָן	[ɔ]		–
בֹ	Israeli	Holam	holam	ḥolam	חוֹלָם	[o̞]	o	Usually promoted to Holam Malei in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation. The holam is written above the consonant on the left corner, or slightly to the left of (i.e., after) it at the top.
	Tiberian			ḥōlem	חֹלֶם	oː	ō	comm
בוֹ, בֹה, בֹא	Israeli	Holam malei	holam male	ḥolam male	חוֹלַם מָלֵא	[o̞]	o	The holam is written in the normal position relative to the main consonant (above and slightly to the left), which places it directly over the vav.
	Tiberian			ḥōlem mālê	חֹלֶם מָלֵא	[oː]	ô	–
בֻ	Israeli	Kubutz	kubuts	qubbuẓ	קֻבּוּץ	[u]	u	Usually promoted to Shuruk in Israeli writing for the sake of disambiguation.
	Tiberian					[u] or [uː]	u or ú
בוּ, בוּה, בוּא	Israeli	Shuruk	shuruk	šuruq	שׁוּרוּק	[u]	u	The shuruk is written after the consonant it applies to (the consonant after which the vowel /u/ is pronounced). The dot in the shuruk is identical to a dagesh, thus shuruq and vav with a dagesh are indistinguishable. (see below).
	Tiberian			šûreq	שׁוּרֶק	[uː]	û	–
בּ	Israeli	Dagesh	dagesh	dageš	דָּגֵשׁ	varied	varied	Not a vowel, "dagesh" refers to two distinct grammatical entities: "dagesh kal", which designates the plosive (as opposed to fricative) variant of any of the letters בגדכפת (in earlier forms of Hebrew this distinction was allophonic; in Israeli Hebrew ג, ד and ת with or without dagesh kal are acoustically and phonologically indistinguishable, whereas plosive and fricative variants of ב, כ and פ are sometimes allophonic and sometimes distinct phonemes (e.g. אִפֵּר /iˈper/ applied make up vs. אִפֵר /iˈfer/ tipped ash), "dagesh hazak", which designates gemination (prolonged pronunciation) of consonants, but which, although represented in most cases when transliterated according to standards of the Academy of the Hebrew Language,[3] is acoustically and phonologically non existent in Modern Hebrew (except occasionally in dramatic or comical recitations, in some loanwords—such as a few Arabic profanities—and pronunciations exaggerated for the sake of disambiguation). For most letters the dagesh is written within the glyph, near the middle if possible, but the exact position varies from letter to letter (some letters do not have an open area in the middle, and in these cases it is written usually beside the letter, as with yod). The guttural consonants (אהחע) and resh (ר) are not marked with a dagesh, although the letter he (ה) (and rarely א) may appear with a mappiq (which is written the same way as dagesh) at the end of a word to indicate that the letter does not signify a vowel but is consonantal. To the resulting form, there can still be added a niqqud diacritic designating a vowel.
	Tiberian			dāḡēš	דָּגֵשׁ
בֿ	Israeli	Rafe	rafe	Not used in Hebrew. Still occasionally seen in Yiddish (actually more often as the spelling becomes more standardized, embracing YIVO rules) to distinguish פּ /p/ from פֿ /f/ (note that this letter is always pronounced [f] when in the final position, with the exception of loanwords—שׁוֹפּ—, foreign names—פִילִיפּ— and some slang—חָרַפּ). Some ancient manuscripts have a dagesh or a rafe on nearly every letter. It is also used to indicate that a letter like ה or א is silent. In the particularly strange case of the Ten Commandments, which have two different traditions for their Cantillations which many texts write together, there are cases of a single letter with both a dagesh and a rafe, if it is hard in one reading and soft in the other.
	Tiberian			Niqqud, but not a vowel. Used as an "anti-dagesh", to show that a בגדכפת letter is soft and not hard, or (sometimes) that a consonant is single and not double, or that a letter like ה or א is completely silent
שׁ	Israeli	Shin dot	shin dot	šin dot	שִׁי"ן, שִׁי״ן יְמָנִית or יְמִינִית, "right Shin"	[ʃ]	š/sh	Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of a letter before the shin with the shin dot). The dot for shin is written over the right (first) branch of the letter. It is usually transcribed "sh".
	Tiberian
שׂ	Israeli	Sin dot	sin dot	śin dot	שִׂי"ן, שִׁי״ן שְׂמָאלִית, "left Sin"	[s]	ś/s	Niqqud, but not a vowel (except when inadequate typefaces merge the holam of the sin with the sin dot). The dot for sin is written over the left (third) branch of the letter
	Tiberian							Some linguistic evidence indicates that it was originally IPA [ɬ], though poetry and acrostics show that it has been pronounced /s/ since quite ancient times).

Keyboard

For the Hebrew letters there is a standardized Hebrew keyboard. But when it comes to niqqud, different computer systems and programs provide for adding the signs in different ways.

Using the Hebrew keyboard layout in Microsoft Windows the typist can enter niqqud by pressing CapsLock, putting the cursor after the consonant letter and then pressing Shift and one of the following keys. In GTK+ Linux systems niqqud can be entered by pressing ctrl+shift+u followed by the appropriate 4 digit Unicode.

Using the Hebrew keyboard layout in Mac OS X, the typist can enter niqqud by pressing the Option key together with a number on the top row of the keyboard. Other combinations like sofit and hataf can also be entered by pressing either the Shift key and a number, or by pressing the Shift key, Option key, and a number at the same time.^[4][5]

Niqqud input Input (Windows) Key (Windows) Input (MacOS X) Unicode Type Result ~ 0 05B0 Sh'va [1] 1 3 05B1 Reduced Segol [1] 2 1 05B2 Reduced Patach [1] 3 2 05B3 Reduced Kamatz [1] 4 4 05B4 Hiriq [1] 5 5 05B5 Zeire [1] 6 9 05B6 Segol [1] 7 6 05B7 Patach [1]

Niqqud input Input (Windows) Key (Windows) Input (MacOS X) Unicode Type Result 8 7 05B8 Kamatz [1] 9 A 05C2 Sin dot (left) [2] 0 M 05C1 Shin dot (right) [2] – = 05B9 Holam [1] = [3] , 05BC Dagesh or Mappiq [1] U 05BC Shuruk [4] \ 8 05BB Kubutz [1]

Notes:

• ^[1] The letter "O" represents whatever Hebrew letter is used.
• ^[2] For sin-dot and shin-dot, the letter "ש" (sin/shin) is used since they can only be used with that letter.
• ^[3] The dagesh, mappiq, and shuruk are different; however, they look the same and (hence) are input the same way (all 3 of them.)
• ^[4] For shuruk, the letter "ו" (vav) is used since it can only be used with that letter.

See also

• The Arabic equivalent, harakat.
• Hebrew diacritics
• Q're perpetuum
• Dagesh
• Hebrew spelling
• Tiberian Hebrew

Bibliography

• The Academy Grammar Committee; ed. Ronit Gadish, Einat Gonen, Barak Dan (2006) (in Hebrew). Leshonenu La′am. Academy Decisions: Grammar. Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language. ISSN 0024-1091. 
•  Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, especially §7, §8, §9
• Netzer, Nisan (1976) (in Hebrew). Haniqqud halakha lema′ase. Israel: Massada. 

References

1. ^ Cantillation
2. ^ Rules for Spelling without Niqqud
3. ^ Transliteration standards from November 2006
4. ^ http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/software/0307978AHEBRLKITUM.PDF
5. ^ comprehensive guide