Chapter 2: Vocalization

It must be stressed that the vocalizations in this volume seek to preserve as many attested features as feasible along with reasonable reconstructions. They are not exhaustive, nor are they indicative of every subdialect or known example that may be out "in the wild." Due to the messy nature of the Galilean corpus, there will always be additional variations to consider. Regardless, to better understand the dialect we will be focusing very heavily upon vocalization.

The primary reason why vocalization is so integral to the structure of this book is to aid with learning the language. Fluency is attained not only through reading and writing, but also through the muscle memory inherent to speaking and hearing a language regularly.

The secondary reason is due to the lack of standardization in spelling. Where we are trying to work from the most reliable forms of both spelling and vocalization, due to the aforementioned variances "in the wild," a student will be better equipped to identify, parse, and interpret non-standardized forms when they have a good grasp of what lies underneath them.

Historically, when it came to vocalizing a consonantal text, a scribe would have to employ a great deal of foreknowledge of both the language and the script. Ambiguities between different consonantal sounds and the presence and quality of vowels were originally memorized by rote, and any ambiguities were resolved by context. However, beginning in the 6th and 7th centuries CE, we start seeing Vocalization Systems begin to evolve, whereby a number of other important features about pronunciation are represented by written notation.

For Jewish Aramaic, there were three major systems: Tiberian, Babylonian, and Palestinian. Tiberian was a sublinear system, where vowels were predominantly expressed by a number of dots and dashes under the letters they came after, where Babylonian and Palestinian were supralinear, the notation predominantly above the letters like Syriac and Arabic. Each represented a different number of vowels and a different number of features that their scribes thought were important to keep track of. Eventually, the Tiberian school won out, and is what was used to write not only Jewish Aramaic, but Hebrew up to the modern day. It managed to keep track of the typical number of features that Hebrew and Eastern Aramaic dialects needed to keep track of.

Galilean, however, was not a typical Eastern Aramaic dialect. Where vocalization markings in the Galilean corpus are relatively rare, a small number of documents appear with Palestinian Vocalization markings (predominantly among the Palestinian Piyyutim and various Genizah Fragments^[1]) or Palestino-Tiberian Vocalization^[2] (that is, a Palestinian system expressed by Tiberian notation). All of these examples demonstrate a number of distinct features.

There was considerable ambiguity between the classical patah (a) and qametz (å) vowels as well as segol (e) and tsere (ē). Very often (especially in earlier Galilean) the two were not differentiated, which left the inventory of nominal Galilean vowels at 5 (a, e, i, o, u) plus shwa (ə), which it shared with Palestinian Hebrew.^[3]

Vowels between labial consonants -- even if classical shwa -- tended to trend towards w.

Additionally, there are a number of written accounts by contemporaries that described how Galileans spoke:

From anecdotes in the Babylonian Talmud, Galileans tended to pronounce ), h, x, and ( similarly at the beginning of a word and reduce many initial and/or unstressed vowels to šəwa.^[4]

Despite this, from New Testament evidence we see that ( in early Galilean was voiced in some contexts. In Mark 3:17 we find the transliterated phrase βοανηργες, which is likely to be either $(r-ynb ^[5] or M(r-ynb.^[6] Here we see ( transliterated by γ which also happens in the Septuagint.^[7]

Further examples of directly transliterated Galilean Aramaic from the New Testament include:

ταλιθα κουμι (Mark 5:41) = "Girl, arise!"
  ⟶ ymwq htyl+ ⟶ təliṯáh qúmi

εφφαθα (Mark 7:34) = "Be opened."
  ⟶ xtp) < xtpty) ⟶ 'ə(ṯ)faṯáḥ

αββα (Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6) = "Father" / "My father"
  ⟶ hb) ⟶ 'əbbáh

ρακα (Matthew 5:22) = "Idiot"
  ⟶ hqyr/hqr ⟶ rəqáh

ραββουνει (John 20:16) = "My teacher/master."
  ⟶ ynwbr ⟶ rabbúni

ηλει ηλει λεμα σαβαχθανει (Matthew 27:46) = "My God, my God, why have you left me?"
  ⟶ yntqb$ hml yl) yl) ⟶ 'əlí 'əlí ləmáh šəváqtani

ελοι ελοι λιμα σαβαχθανει (Mark 15:34) = "My God, my God, why have you left me?"
  ⟶ yntqb$ hml yhl) yhl) ⟶ 'əlahí 'əlahí ləmáh šəváqtani

κορβαν (Matthew 27:6, Mark 7:11) = "Offering/sacrifice."
  ⟶ Nbrwq ⟶ qorbán

From these examples, as well as from Greek transliterations of names (both within and outside of the New Testament) we can see the ongoing process of vowel reduction was underway in early Galilean, but that it was not nearly as marked as it was in Eastern dialects such as Syriac.^[8]

Palestinian Vocalization Markings #

Because of the reduced vowel inventory and the fact that it is found predominantly with Palestinian Aramaic and Palestinian Hebrew, Palestinian Vocalization markings have been chosen to express vocalizations in this volume. The Tiberian and Babylonian Vocalization systems, as they are meant to be used, do not properly "fit" Galilean pronunciation without some "shoehorning";^[9] however, Palestinian Vocalization in and of itself is not nearly as standardized. As such, we will adopt the following conventions:

Out of all vowels, only the names of three have survived in the (later) Galilean corpus, those being šəwah,^[10] paṯaḥ,^[11] and qamaç.^[12] Šəwah and pəṯaḥ (sometimes paṯaḥ) have been clarified, and qamaç repurposed as qomaç (with a similar sound). The other three names have been adapted from contemporary terms to indicate how the vowels are formed.

:) - Šəwah (Shwa)^[13] -- Two dots on the diagonal, it's like the a in "above"; a very short uh. It is represented in transliteration by ə.

a) - Pəṯaḥ -- A line over the top of a letter, it is an open ah sound which could have been nazalized. It is represented in transliteration as a.

E - Çəre -- Looks like a yod with a shwa over it. If it's at the beginning of a word, it's pronounced yə, but everywhere else it represents an ey sound. In transliteration it is represented by e.

I - Ḥəriq -- A yod with two dots vertically aligned over it. It makes an ee sound. In transliteration it is represented by the letter i.

O - Qomaç -- A wau with three dots in a triangle over it. It makes an oh sound. In transliteration it is represented by the letter o; and finally,

U - Qəfuç -- A wau with two dots side-by-side over it. It makes an oo sound. In transliteration it is represented by the letter u.

Stress is believed to have fallen upon the final full syllable, and in transliteration is represented by an acute accent on the appropriate vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú).

Šəwa` and pəṯaḥ can fall upon any letter, and when they do they are pronounced right after it. For example habat:k = kəṯaváh.

When a vowel falls upon a yy or ww (representing a consonantal y or w respectively) it is written over it as if they are one letter.

Pəṯaḥ Gəniv #

Due to the clustering of vowels, pəṯaḥ won't quite fit due to the presence of other diacritical marks. In these cases it is written on the last letter, but is still pronounced before it.^[14] This is known as pəṯaḥ gəniv or a "stolen pəṯaḥ".

Combinations & Diphthongs #

These three letters are used in concert to express a large number of vowel combinations with slight variations depending on where they fall within a word. The following table shows the most common combinations:

Dəḡeš & Rafe #

When a letter is doubled in pronunciation and/or where one of the bəḡaḏkəfaṯ is pronounced qəše it can be noted by a dəḡeš or "dagesh" (.X) over the appropriate letter (e.g. NU.dak = kaddun "now" rather than kaḏun). If at the beginning of a syllable, the dəḡeš also indicates a šəwa` directly after the letter it falls on provided no vowel follows it (otherwise, it is merely doubled and/or pronounced qəše).^[16]

When one of the bəḡaḏkəfaṯ is pronounced rafe where one would expect it to be qəše it is noted with a dəḡeš turned 90 degrees clockwise (]X) like hatU]klam malḵuṯah "the kingdom."

This rafe mark can also be found on h when it appears at the end of a word but is pronounced as a noticable h rather than simply indicating a final vowel (]h) like ]habat:k \textit{kəṯavaẖ} "her book."\footnote{This use "in the wild" is uncertain as it only possibly occurs twice. See Fassberg (1990) §3d p.23 and follow the merry chase of endnotes.}

Most of the time "in the wild," dəḡeš and rafe are more or less used only when it's necessary to disambiguate and are otherwise omitted.

Gəreš #

The cognate to the apostrophe in Palestinian notation is the ' gəreš (or "geresh"; plural '' NI$reg geršin). It is generally used in three ways:

1. When letters are omitted (like an English apostrophe). In many Rabbinic texts it's common to find ') = rm) 'əmar ("he said").

2. To indicate numerals. 'y = 10, k''t = 500. (See the chapter on Numerals for more.)

3. To indicate an acronym or initialism.

In later Galilean texts, geršin are sometimes placed around words in other languages or upon the first and last letters of quoted words much like quotation marks.