Vocalization and Nikkud Signs

Vocalization in Biblical Hebrew

Vocalization refers to the process of adding vowels to the consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible.
The practice of vocalization evolved over time, but it was not until the Mesoretes in the middle ages that a system of written vowels was introduced.
The Hebrew consonantal text originally was written without vowels which could make it hard to decipher the exact pronunciation and meaning.
The Mesoretes added vocalization marks, known as diacritics or nequdot, below, in, and above the letters to preserve the traditional pronunciation.
Biblical Hebrew has five basic vowel sounds which can be long or short: a, e, i, o, u.
The energy or length of vowel sound can change the meaning of the word in Biblical Hebrew.

Nikkud

Nikkud or Niqqud is the system of dots and dashes to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations or grammatical inflections in Hebrew writing.
The term ‘Nikkud’ means ‘pointing’ or ‘dotting’, relating to the points and lines used in this system.
Each mark is called a nikkud or nikkuda and varies in shape and position relative to the consonant letters.
A combination of a letter with niqqud is called a ‘katef’.
There are altogether 14 basic nikkud symbols in the Hebrew Bible.

Key Nikkud Signs

Patach, Segol, Kamatz, Tzere and Cholam are the basic vowel signs.
Sheva is used under a letter to indicate a very short ‘uh’ sound, or no vowel at all.
Dagesh is used in the middle of a letter to indicate that the letter is pronounced with a stronger stop.
Mappiq is used in a final ‘he’ to indicate that the letter is to be pronounced.

Diacritics for Disambiguation

Diacritics are used to distinguish between homographs, words that are spelled the same but have different meanings.
For example, the word ‘שָׁנָה’ (shana: year) and ‘שַׁנָּה’ (shanna: changed) are distinguished using the diacritic.
Diacritics are also used in Biblical Hebrew to indicate semantic values like gender, number, and verb tense.

This concludes the section on Vocalization and Nikkud Signs in Biblical Hebrew. Remember, practice makes perfect, keep practicing reading and writing in Biblical Hebrew to familiarize yourself with the system.