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xiphiasThis post will make no sense to those of you who don't read Hebrew. Fortunately, enough of you do to make it worth posting. I'll try to explain as I go along, anyway.
In passing, I mentioned to them that the Hebrew vowels have names. (In Hebrew, the vowels are just little marks under the actual letters. They're really only used when people are LEARNING how to read, or if you're transcribing something that's not a real Hebrew word -- once you can ACTUALLY read, you don't use 'em.)
They decided that they didn't like the official names of them. And came up with their own for a few of them.
(The vowel sounds described are in the dialect "American Hebrew School Hebrew", a set of vowel sounds which is fundamentally unlike Israeli Hebrew or Ashkenazi Hebrew, and has only limited similarities to Sephardic Hebrew. Its vowel structure is simplified in much the same way that American vowel sounds are often simplified -- but even more so.)
In passing, I mentioned to them that the Hebrew vowels have names. (In Hebrew, the vowels are just little marks under the actual letters. They're really only used when people are LEARNING how to read, or if you're transcribing something that's not a real Hebrew word -- once you can ACTUALLY read, you don't use 'em.)
They decided that they didn't like the official names of them. And came up with their own for a few of them.
(The vowel sounds described are in the dialect "American Hebrew School Hebrew", a set of vowel sounds which is fundamentally unlike Israeli Hebrew or Ashkenazi Hebrew, and has only limited similarities to Sephardic Hebrew. Its vowel structure is simplified in much the same way that American vowel sounds are often simplified -- but even more so.)
| Vowel | Sound | Official name | My students' name for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| ֶ | "eh" -- ɛ | segol | Ted |
| ֵ | "ei" -- ei | tseirei | Laya |
| ַ | "ah" -- a | patakh | Bob Jr. |
| ָ | "ah" -- a | kamatz | Bob |
| ֳ | "ah" -- a | hatef kamatz | Bob Sr |
| ְ | as little as possible -- ə | sheva | Disputed: either Professor Ih, or Lieutenant Uh |